Nutrition Labels: How to Read and Understand the Facts around the World
Nowadays people living in this world are present at the most advanced level of their social development. They have become self-aware of the things causing harm or are good for living a healthy and happy life. All of these facts have combined to push businesses and services to bring out quality assurance of their product for satisfying the consumer. Eating choices are also getting precise for which companies have designed nutrition labels. Nutrition labels are information panels present on the packaging of food to deliver comprehensive details about the nutritional quality of the food.
Nutrition labels for food are designed to assist consumers in making decisions for choosing a food that fits best into their overall dietary goals and needs. The nutrition labels for food are so important that they are mandating by law in many countries. Laws of different countries are regulating on what content should be present on each packaging.
How to Read Nutrition Labels for Food
Here is some information provided by American Heart Association on what content is generally present on a nutrition label. The content varies according to different countries and their laws.
1 – Serving Information
The labels start with serving information at the top (1). Which shows the service size of a single serving and the total number of servings per container (package). Serving sizes are designed to easily compare similar foods in terms of caloric intake. This is because the number of calories is usually mentioned as per the size of the serving. The serving information is always mentioned in similar units like cups or pieces, followed by the number of grams (g) in a particular serving.
2 – Total calories per serving
Calories per serving (2) show how many calories you are taking in with the particular food. It tells how much energy you will get from consuming one serving of food. This information is most crucial because it provides ideas on how to maintain a healthy body weight or balance the number of calories. FDA has recommended approximately 2,000 calories per day as a standard requirement for an individual.
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3 – Amount of Specific Macronutrients
Next, the label prints key nutrients present in the food (3). Which helps find what nutrient you are looking for or avoiding. Information about total cholesterol, trans fat, and total sugars will assist you to compare the nutrition labels of different brands and which suits you the best. There are some nutrients present that people avoid or consumed less. Like, as saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars because they may be associated with adverse health effects if exceeds the recommended limits.
Total Sugars are the naturally present sugars found in foods whereas added Sugars column present on the nutrition labels is for the sugars that are added during the processing of foods and are not originally part of the food.
Total Sugar 15g
Includes 7g Added Sugars 14%
For example, in the sample label picture above we can clearly see that the product contains 8 grams of sugars naturally. While 7 grams of sugar must be added while processing which makes the sugar increase to 15 grams in total. Thus, they should be avoided in the meal as because of such added sugars it gets difficult to meet %DV while staying within caloric limits
4 – Micronutrients.
After the major nutrients are present in the food, the label also displays dietary fibers, vitamins, and minerals content as well (4). These nutrients are important to consume more often because different micronutrients have different health benefits. Like, dietary fiber can increase the frequency of bowel movements, and regulate blood glucose and cholesterol levels, etc. whereas, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium can reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis, anemia, and high blood pressure.
5 – % Daily Value.
The % Daily Value (DV) (5) is the most important content of the nutrition label. It will tell you a percentage of each nutrient present in a single serving. It is based on recommended daily intake of food. This guides consumers to choose between a low % DV if they are looking for less of a nutrient and a high %DV if they want to consume more of a nutrient in any food. The Daily Values should not consume or exceed each day.
FDA generally recommends 5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving as low. However, 20% DV or more, is considered high for consumption. For example, in the picture below it shows that this product contains 37% DV of sodium. Which means that this product is high in sodium content. And if you consume 2 servings of this particular food, that would provide 74% of the DV of Sodium
The nutrition labels for food are governed by laws that vary from country to country. Compliance Bird is a first-class solution for making nutrition labels that comply best with the law. It provides you with the best services based on the following governing bodies:
FDA (USA) Compliant Nutrition labels
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the law-enforcing authority based in the USA. It is responsible for protecting public health and safety targeting food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA ensures the safe transfer of packaged foods sold in the United States to the consumer and regulates the elements a package must contain. The FDA food nutrition labeling sector addresses nutrition label requirements that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is mandating. Thus, all food selling in the USA must comply with this act for reaching consumers.
Compliance Bird gives you food labeling experts who make explicit FDA-compliant Nutrition labels for Food that follow the latest guidelines of the FDA. For finding more about how they work, visit our page: FDA (USA) Compliant Nutrition Facts Labels
CFIA (Canada) Compliant Nutrition Labels for Food
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is Canadian food standard body that is dedicated to assuring food, animal, and plant supply. In order to enhance the health and well-being of people living in Canada. The CFIA runs under Food and Drug Regulations (FDR). CFIA’s nutrition labeling for food is providing a comprehensive way to convey information about the nutrient content of food for easy comparison among foods.
Since the Canadian labeling regulations do not match the requirements of other countries. The labels with nutrition information other than FDR are considered contrary to Canadian legislation. Thus, professionals at compliance bird are experts to deal with CFIA-compliant Nutrition labels for food products. Visit our page for further details: CFIA (Canada) Compliant Nutrition Facts Labels
Food Nutrition Labels of EU and UK
The food standard agency (FSA) in the UK is responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It works to enforce food safety regulations including labeling policy in Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA protects the authenticity of the food and makes sure the food a customer is buying originally matches its description.
The European Union (EU) also governs rules and guidelines to assure food nutrition compliance among its member states. The set of rules safeguards food safety, promotes public health, and informs customers accurately about the nutritional value of food products.
You can visit our page EU and UK Compliant Nutrition Information Labels. To see how our labeling experts design authentic nutrition labels for your food. the labels by our food experts comply with the latest guidelines of the European Commission and Food Standards Agency UK.
FSANZ (Australia and New Zealand) Compliant Nutrition Facts Labels
regulatory authority that develops food standards for Australia and New Zealand. Some of the standards under FSANZ apply to Australia and New Zealand, others apply to Australia only. FSANZ also works to coordinate food surveillance and food recalls happening under the Australian and New Zealand governments.
At compliance bird, our experts undergo a complete nutritional analysis of your food product. Then they bring you labels complying with FSANZ guidelines. Visit for more details: Australia and New Zealand Compliant Nutrition Facts Labels