A Guide to Food labelling
Why it’s important to read the label?
A lot can be learnt about what’s in your food by reading the label.
Food labels provide information on the ingredients used to make the
product and the amount of nutrients it contains, such as protein, fibre,
fat, salt and added sugars.
Understanding how to read a label will help you to choose healthy foods
which are low in salt, fat and added sugars. Eating healthy food will
contribute to your wellbeing and maintaining a healthy weight.
How to read the label
Most food products show nutritional information. The nutrition label allows you to see how
much salt, fat and sugar is in the product. This is usually presented like the example below.
This states that for
every 100 grams
or per ½ pack
of the product it
will contain the
following nutrients.
Tells you how
much fat there
is in the product.
More than 20g
per 100g is high
and 3g or less per
100g is low.
Nutrition
Typical Values
per 100g
per 1/2 pack
(approx.450g)
GDA
Energy value
560 kJ
2520kJ
Average
adult
(Calories
135 kcal
605 kcal)
2000 kcal
Protein
7.2 g
32.5 g
45 g
Carbohydrate
9.3 g
41.7 g
230 g
(of which Sugars
3.0 g
13.6 g) Low
90 g
Fat
7.6 g
34.1 g High
70 g
(of which Saturates
3.4 g
15.2 g High
20 g
Fibre
2.3 g
10.5 g
24 g
0.2 g
0.9 g
2.4 g
Sodium
Salt
0.5 g
2.1 g Med
GDA = Guideline Daily Amounts
6g
Tells you how much
added sugar there is
in the product. More
than 15g per 100g
is high and 5g or less
per 100g is low.
Tells you how much
salt there is in the
product. More than
0.5g per 100g is high
and 0.1g or less per
100g is low.
Guideline Daily Amounts
As a guide it is useful to consider the Guideline Daily Amounts for the most important
nutrients. Some labels show how much the product will contribute to the Guideline Daily
Amounts (GDA) for men and women.
Traffic light labelling and signposting
The Co-operative is an adopter and supporter of the FSA front of pack traffic light
labelling scheme, which helps you understand the nutritional value of foods and their
contribution to a balanced diet.
The Traffic Light labels show you at a glance if the product you are thinking of buying has
a high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt.
Calories Fat Sat Fat Sugars Salt
190
12.0g 12.0g 12.0g 12.0g
Red
high content
Amber medium content
Calories
FatSatFat
SatFat
Fat
Sugars
Salt Salt Salt
Calories
Sat Fat
Sugars
Calories
FatCalories
Fat
Sugars
SaltSugars
Sat Fat
Green low content
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
19012.0g
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
190 19012.0g
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
190
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
12.0g
The Co-operative Simply Value and Healthy Living ranges currently use Traffic Light Labelling.
low low high low in
saturated
fat is salt
fats own label products alongside Traffic Light
Green Dot labelling
used on The Co-operative
Green Dot labelling
Labelling to make it easy for customers to identify a healthy product. Examples of the
green dot can be seen below:
Find a green
dot and
you’ve found
a healthier
option.
low
in
low in
low
in
low in
high
lowlow
lowhigh
high
lowlowlow
high
low
low
saturated
saturated
saturated
saturated
fat salt
fat fat salt
fat salt salt
fats fats fats fats
This is found
on foods that
contain 3g
of fat or less
per 100g
This is found
on foods that
contain 0.3g
of salt or less
per 100g
This is found
on foods that
contain 6g of
fibre or more
per 100g
This is found
on foods that
contain 1.5g
of saturates or
less per 100g