How to read a food label
The label on a supermarket product can look like a crowded table of numbers at first glance. Once you know where to look, though, it becomes the most reliable source of information you have about that product.
Short answer
When you read a food label, first check whether the figures refer to a portion or to 100 g; always use the 100 g column when comparing products. The ingredients list runs from the largest quantity to the smallest, so the first few items make up most of the product. Remember that sugar can appear under several different names, and that salt is sometimes given as sodium (salt ≈ sodium × 2.5).
The two parts of a label
Two parts of a food label complete each other. The nutrition table gives the product's energy (calories), fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar, protein and salt as numbers. The ingredients list shows what the product is actually made of. Looking at only one of them leaves the picture incomplete: the table tells you the amounts, the list tells you the character of the product. Two fruit yoghurts may show the same sugar figure, for example, but only the ingredients list will tell you that in one the sugar comes from fruit and in the other from added glucose syrup.
Check this first: portion or 100 g?
The most common confusion on labels is what the figures actually refer to. Some products give values per portion, some per 100 g, and some give both. The portion the manufacturer has chosen may be smaller than the amount you really eat; figures based on a 30 g portion multiply several times over once you have finished half the packet.
A practical rule: always use the 100 g column when comparing two products, and weigh or estimate your own realistic portion when working out what you have eaten. For more on this, see the guide to the difference between a portion and 100 grams.
The ingredients list: the order says a lot
Ingredients are listed by weight, from the largest quantity to the smallest. The first three items make up most of the product. If you are looking for wholemeal bread, you want to see wholemeal flour in first place; if white flour comes first and wholemeal flour third, the impression given by the product name may be misleading.
Sugar does not appear under a single name either. Glucose syrup, fructose, corn syrup, invert sugar, maltose, dextrose, honey and concentrated fruit juice all act as added sugar. When these names are spread through the list, each one may sit fairly low down, yet their combined total can be considerable.
Salt and sodium are not the same thing
Some labels give sodium instead of salt. Roughly 40 per cent of table salt is sodium, so you can find the salt equivalent by multiplying the sodium figure by 2.5. If the label says 0.4 g of sodium, that is about 1 g of salt. The World Health Organization recommends less than 5 grams of salt a day for adults as a general target. For the detail of the conversion, see the guide to the difference between salt and sodium.
Claims, dates and allergens
Three further details on a label raise the quality of your decisions. The first is the nutrition claims on the front of the pack: words such as “light” or “reduced” do not mean the product is low in absolute terms, only that a certain proportion has been removed compared with a reference product; a “light” crisp can still be a dense snack. In the same way, claims such as “source of fibre” or “high in protein” have thresholds defined in regulation, so the soundest habit is to see the claim and then turn to the table for the real amount. The second is dates: the “use by” date is about safety and the product should not be eaten once it has passed, while the “best before” date describes the period of best quality, and a properly stored product may still be edible for a while afterwards even though quality declines. The third is allergen information: allergens such as gluten, milk, egg and nuts are marked in bold or otherwise highlighted within the ingredients list, and for someone with an allergy those lines are the most critical part of the label.
A practical reading order
- Work out whether the figures refer to a portion or to 100 g.
- Look at the first three items on the ingredients list; the character of the product is there.
- Scan for the different names of sugar and count how often they appear.
- Check the salt figure; if sodium is given, multiply it by 2.5.
- Compare the claims on the front (“no additives”, “natural”) with the information on the back.
Once this order becomes a habit, reading a label takes a few seconds. The aim is not to rule out every product, but to choose knowing what you are buying.
Checklist
- I checked whether the figures refer to a portion or to 100 g.
- I made the comparison on a 100 g basis.
- I looked at the first three items on the ingredients list.
- I scanned for the different names of sugar.
- Where sodium was given, I multiplied by 2.5 to find the salt equivalent.
- I compared the front-of-pack claims with the back of the pack.
Frequently asked questions
Can I trust front-of-pack words such as “natural” or “no additives”?
The front of the pack is marketing space, and most of these expressions have no strict definition. The reliable information sits on the back, in the nutrition table and the ingredients list.
Are the E numbers in the ingredients list harmful?
E numbers are the standard reference numbers of permitted additives; a number on its own does not mean harm. If you are sensitive to a particular substance, they are useful for following it on the label.
Does “no added sugar” mean there is no sugar at all?
No; the phrase means that no sugar was added during production. The product may still contain sugar occurring naturally in ingredients such as fruit or milk. The total sugar figure appears in the nutrition table.
How exact is the calorie figure on a label?
Label figures are averages, and regulation allows a certain tolerance. It is therefore more accurate to read them as an estimated starting point rather than as exact numbers.
This guide draws on the general principles of the labelling rules in the Turkish Food Codex, the national regulation covering food sold in Türkiye, and on the World Health Organization's general recommendations on salt and sugar.