Healthy Eating
Food Labels
Food Labels – What do they Mean?
Food labels are an important source of information for consumers about the contents of the food we eat.The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code requires all packaged food to carry a panel which provides nutritional information including energy, sugar and fat content of the food.
The Nutritional Information Panel (NIP) on food packages shows:
- information about the nutritional content of the food you buy;
- the percentage of the characterising ingredient of the food; and
- declarations of the presence of potential allergens in foods, however small the amount.
Industry Initiatives - Daily Intake Information
The food standards code allows for additional information to be provided on food packaging.Some Australian food manufacturers have recently taken steps to improve consumer education through healthy eating promotions, using front of pack labelling, educational websites, advertising, supermarket, shopping centre and major event promotions.
These initiatives include, for example, information about daily intake on food packaging which is designed to help people understand the energy and nutrient content of the packaged food they buy in the context of their daily food requirements. It shows the percentage per serve of the daily intake of energy and nutrients eg, carbohydrate, protein, fat, salt and fibre. The daily intakes are based on an average adult diet of 8,700kJ (calories 2081).
It is important to know that the daily intake information will differ from the information on the sample diets for a particular individual as presented on this website, as the website information has been tailored for a specific age and gender group, rather than on the average adult requirement used to calculate the information on food packets
For more information:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/foodmatters/foodlabelling/