Food Labels
Currently the way the law stands, nutritional information is only required if the product is making a nutritional claim (e.g. low fat) for other products it is up to the manufacturer to volunteer the information. However, providing products that seem to offer healthy, low-fat options is big business for food manufacturers. So whilst food labels are designed to tell us more about the product and should be helpful if you're trying to eat healthily, and be careful with your diet, there is lots of information on food labels that can be confusing.
Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Reduced Fat - these claims should not be taken at face value for example a product that promotes itself as 93% fat free would not be low fat as it would be 7% fat!.
No added sugar - Unsweetened - this does not mean that the product will have a low sugar content. It may contain artificial sweeteners or natural sugars from fruits, you need to check the ingredients to get the full picture.
It's worth remembering that labels are there to help sell the product as well as provide information so you need to understand what you are looking for, and what the information actually means.
Currently the way the law stands, nutritional information is only required if the product is making a nutritional claim (e.g. low fat) for other products it is up to the manufacturer to volunteer the information. However, providing products that seem to offer healthy, low-fat options is big business for food manufacturers. So whilst food labels are designed to tell us more about the product and should be helpful if you're trying to eat healthily, and be careful with your diet, there is lots of information on food labels that can be confusing.
Low-Fat, Fat-Free, Reduced Fat - these claims should not be taken at face value for example a product that promotes itself as 93% fat free would not be low fat as it would be 7% fat!.
No added sugar - Unsweetened - this does not mean that the product will have a low sugar content. It may contain artificial sweeteners or natural sugars from fruits, you need to check the ingredients to get the full picture.
It's worth remembering that labels are there to help sell the product as well as provide information so you need to understand what you are looking for, and what the information actually means.