Food labelling

Food labelling uses traffic light colour coding (red, amber, green. This shows if a food is high (red), medium (amber) or low (green) in a particular type of nutrient. These nutrients include fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar, and energy (calories and kilojoules).

Food labels can help you to make healthier and better choices when deciding which food and drink products to buy.

Checking the label each time you buy food can help you to take control of your diet and eating habits.

It is law that manufacturers must list all ingredients in food on the label. They way that they are written on the label also follows a rule that says that ingredients with the highest amount by weight are listed first. They are then listed in order by decreasing weight.

By looking at the both the traffic lights system and the ingredients list, this can help us make more informed choices.

It is important to know how much sugar has been added to your product. You can do this by looking at the ingredients list.

Sugar is often not listed as ‘sugar’ in the ingredients list. A more scientific word is sometimes used instead. There are different types of sugar. But all their scientific names have ‘OSE’ written after them. For example, glucOSE, dextrOSE, fructOSE, lactOSE, maltOSE, sucrOSE.

If you are confused and do not know if sugar has been added to food, look for the words ending with ‘OSE’ in the ingredients list. This will show you if the food has some form of sugar added to it.