Importance and Meaning of Food Labels

While walking through a grocery store, you will most likely be tempted to pick up a food product on the shelf. This can be a crate of eggs or any other food product. On the product package, you will notice several food labels with different certifications and terms. Common labels that might catch your attention include 'All Natural!', 'Non-GMO!', 'Cage-Free!' and '100% Organic.' But what is the meaning of all these certifications? Do they offer consumers guarantees or are they marketing ploys that producers of food products use these days? 

It varies

There are many government-regulated and independent certification stamps that decorate the food products that you find in the modern grocery stores. However, it is possible for anybody to establish a group, create a logo and place it on food packaging. Some of the labels on food packaging have words without concrete legal meaning or definitions.

Important food labels

Food labels are quite tricky and confusing to some consumers. In fact, most consumers do not spend time reading or trying to figure out their meaning and uses. However, there are major labels that you should be careful about when buying foods to ensure that you are purchasing healthy foods.

·        Nutrition information panels

Nutrition information panels provide the easiest and simplest ways of choosing foods that have less saturated salt, fat, added kilojoules and sugars as well as more fiber. You can use this panel to determine a single serve or how discretionary food will be and if it is worth trying. This is particularly important when dealing with weight loss or weight gain issues. For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, avoid discretionary foods because they have few nutrients with a lot of kilojoules. However, you can include them in your diet in small serves. Ideally, nutritional information panel label should enable you to determine if a food is kilojoules worthy.

·        Health star rating system

Health star rating system is usually found in the front-of-pack label of most foods. It provides relevant, easy to understand and convenient nutritional information or/and guidance on the food packs. This information should enable you to make an informed buying decision especially if you want to choose healthier foods. HSR provides at-a-glance rating of healthiness of any food product. It also provides specific energy and nutrient information. The more the rating stars the healthier the food choice. Perhaps, the best way of using HSR is to compare different food products. For instance, when buying breakfast cereals, you can use HSR to compare them before you make a buying decision.

·        Ingredients list

Food labels must provide a list of the ingredients that have been used in a food product. This list enables you to determine whether the food product that you buy provides the nutrients that you want. The list flags food products with unhealthy ingredients such as added sugars, salt and saturated fat. You can also use this list for weight loss weight purposes. This is because you should drink and eat fewer kilojoules than what your body uses to lose weight. Kilojoules are from single sources or a combination of sugars, fat, carbohydrates, alcohol and protein. When it comes to losing weight, the overall kilojoules total is what matters and not a single source of kilojoules. Nevertheless, if sugars or fat are high in the ingredients list, it is important that you check their amount in your overall food composition or diet.

·        Nutrition claims

Some food labels come with nutrition claims such as ‘high fiber’, ‘reduced salt’ or ‘low fat.’ These claims should be used only if a food meets specific criteria. For instance, if a food claims to be a great calcium source, it must have more than one calcium providing food.

·        Health claims

Health claims link a substance or a nutrient in a food or the food itself to a specific health effect. Ideally, there can be two health claims attached to a food. One, the producer can claim that a substance or a nutrient in the food has a health function. Two, the producer can make a high-level health claim. For instance, a producer can relate a substance or nutrient in the food with a serious disease. They can also claim that the substance or nutrient is a biomarker of a specific, serious disease.

·        Daily intake percentage

There are labels that list nutrients in single serves of a food product. These food labels can be used in comparing nutrients in single serves of foods with the needs of the consumer.

This is one of the many sample articles or blog posts from Bishop Writers. For help in writing articles and blog posts on these and other topics, get in touch with Bishop Writers now via bishopwriters@gmail.com. You can also fill out the order form on our homepage specifying your content requirements and we will contact you as soon as possible.