Understanding food labelling

Food labels give valuable nutritional information about the product, so you can check out levels of, for example, energy, fats, salt, sugar, carbohydrate before you buy. Look at some sample labels and test your understanding.

Nutrition information panel

Along with a list of ingredients on food packaging you will find a Nutrition Information Panel and possibly some nutrition claims.

Ingredients

Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, starting with the largest amount first.

How can we use this information?

• Comparing products
  Use the per 100g column to compare different products.
• How much do you eat?
  The serving size on the packet may be different to your size - check it out!

Compare these products yourself…

Test yourself

• How many biscuits is a serving of sweet biscuits?
• How many servings are in the packet of sweet biscuits?
• How many crackers make up one serve of wheat crackers?
• How much fat is in one serve of sweet biscuits?
• How much fat is in one serve of wheat crackers?
• If you ate 6 wheat crackers, how many serves is that?
• If you were to eat 6 wheat crackers, how many grams (g) of fat would that be?
• Per 100g, which product has the most sugar?
• Per 100g, which product has the most fat?
• If you were having 1 serve of each product, which would have the most sugar?
• Which would have the most energy?
• What is the main ingredient in the wheat crackers?

See below for answers

Answers

How many biscuits is a serving of sweet biscuits?
2
How many servings are in the packet of sweet biscuits?
8
How many crackers make up one serve of wheat crackers?
3
How much fat is in one serve of sweet biscuits?
4.6g
How much fat is in one serve of wheat crackers?
3.5g
If you ate 6 wheat crackers, how many serves is that?
2
If you were to eat 6 wheat crackers, how many grams of fat would that be?
7g
Per 100g, which product has the most sugar?
Sweet biscuits
Per 100g, which product has the most fat?
Wheat biscuits
If you were having 1 serve of each product, which would have the most sugar?
Sweet biscuits
Which would have the most energy?
Sweet biscuits
What is the main ingredient in the wheat crackers?
Wheat flour.

Related topics

See also: Reading food labels - nutritional claims

Reading labels - different names for fats, salts and sugars

Original material provided by Diabetes New Zealand, 2008. Edited by everybody, August 2011.