Companies are required by law to put certain information on their food packages. They must
put the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor so any problems can
be reported. The common or usual product name must also be posted. The net contents must
also be listed in weight, measure, or count. Companies can also list health claims on their
packages if they meet certain criteria. For example, a company cannot just say this product
is low in fat so that you will buy it. It has to meet standards set in order to claim
that benefit. If they do meet those standards, a company can choose to put those claims on
their product. As we learned in Chapter 2 some health claims may be less reliable than
others—you must read the fine print. Companies are also required to put a food label on their
package. The food label will list information that can be very helpful in determining if
that food is worth eating or not. Let's look at this food label and describe each section.
At the top of the food label will be the serving size. This is the first thing someone should
look at on the food label. The food label is going to tell you how many nutrients there
are per serving size. For example if the serving size is a ½ cup and you eat a full cup you
would double all the numbers on the food label. The food label will also tell you how many
servings there are per container. The food label is required to list calorie information
next. It will also tell you how many calories are from fat. This is then required to list
several other pieces of information: Total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat. Sometimes
a label will list mono and poly unsaturated fats, but they are not required to list those
types of fat. Cholesterol, Sodium, Total Carbohydrate, fiber, sugars, and protein will also be listed.
The daily values will be listed as percentages on the side. These apply to a 2000 calorie
diet, so may not be helpful to most people. The daily values will be most useful in comparing
foods. This food has 6% fiber, so it has more than this food which only has 3%. If you are
not on a 2000 diet you wouldn't use those numbers to determine if you were getting an
adequate amount of that nutrient. The food label will also list daily value amounts of
vitamin a, vitamin c, calcium, iron, and any other vitamin or mineral they feel is important
to include. The area after that will be standard on all food labels. It gives information about
the daily values, how many nutrients are needed for someone on a 2000-2500 calorie diet, and
calorie per gram reminders. The food label will then list ingredients. These ingredients
must be listed in descending order of predominance by weight. That means that the ingredient
that the product contains the most of will come first. This can be very important in
determining if this is a good product to choose or not. For example if sugar is one of the
first ingredients then it may be lacking in nutritional value. The food label can be a
very good tool to making good healthy food decisions.