Labelling & Nutrition for Food Packaging

Following on from my last post about Food Packaging Regulations, I wanted to look into the guidelines for nutrition and health claims on foods. I found a link on the gov.uk website which lead me to the European Union register of nutrition and health claims on foods. This website lists all terms in which foods are allowed to claim that it is 'low fat' or 'sugar-free' for example. I wanted to focus on this in particular because I'm noticing more and more foods claiming to be healthy and a lot now have several versions of the same food with 'low salt' or 'lighter' versions. I want to find some examples of these foods and compare them to the guidelines to check if they are all they are made out to be and I would also like to check if foods that are advertised as being better for us are actually true to form or whether they are just reduced in size and therefore just appear to be better when in fact they are exactly the same.

References: Europa - Food Safety - Labelling & Nutrition - European Union of nutrition and health claims made on food - Nutrition Claims (2013) Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/claims/community_register/nutrition_claims_en.htm (Accessed: 2nd June 2015).

Below I have listed what I believe to be the most common claims on food packaging and what the regulations are for them to be able to make said claims. 

LOW FAT

A claim that a food is low in fat, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 3 g of fat per 100 g for solids or 1,5 g of fat per 100 ml for liquids (1,8 g of fat per 100 ml for semi-skimmed milk).

FAT-FREE

A claim that a food is fat-free, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 0,5 g of fat per 100 g or 100 ml. However, claims expressed as ‘X % fat-free’ shall be prohibited.

LOW SATURATED FAT

A claim that a food is low in saturated fat, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made if the sum of saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids in the product does not exceed 1,5 g per 100 g for solids or 0,75 g/100 ml for liquids and in either case the sum of saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids must not provide more than 10 % of energy.

SUGARS-FREE

A claim that a food is sugars-free, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 0,5 g of sugars per 100 g or 100 ml.

WITH NO ADDED SUGARS

A claim stating that sugars have not been added to a food, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product does not contain any added mono- or disaccharides or any other food used for its sweetening properties. If sugars are naturally present in the food, the following indication should also appear on the label: ‘CONTAINS NATURALLY OCCURRING SUGARS’.

LOW SODIUM/SALT

A claim that a food is low in sodium/salt, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 0,12 g of sodium, or the equivalent value for salt, per 100 g or per 100 ml. For waters, other than natural mineral waters falling within the scope of Directive 80/777/EEC, this value should not exceed 2 mg of sodium per 100 ml.

LIGHT/LITE

A claim stating that a product is ‘light’ or ‘lite’, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, shall follow the same conditions as those set for the term ‘reduced’; the claim shall also be accompanied by an indication of the characteristic(s) which make(s) the food ‘light’ or ‘lite’.

I would like to follow up from this post with some examples of foods which make these claims to see if they make the claims correctly.