Healthy food

Food Label

The Nutrition Facts label is your guide to healthy food. It gives you food serving sizes in common household measures, and also lists the number of servings per container.

On July 11, 2003 FDA published a final rule requiring manufacturers to list trans fatty acids, or trans fat, on the Nutrition Facts panel of conventional foods and some dietary supplements.

The calories and nutrients are given along with the percentage Daily Value, to show how a food will fit into an overall daily diet of 2,000 calories.

While most processed foods carry the Nutrition Facts label; there are certain types of foods that are not required to do so. Nutrition labels are voluntary for fruits, vegetables, raw fish, raw meats, raw poultry, coffee, tea, deli foods, bakery items, and restaurant foods.

The information on the food label can help you make better food choices every day. However, there are some important things that you should know about these labels.  For example did you know that both the calorie value and the fat value shown on a food label can actually be rounded down?  Do you understand the meaning of nutrient content claims like low, free, and reduced?

    Rounded Values on Food Labels

    • Calories: If a food item has 50 calories or less per serving, the amount shown on the label is rounded to the nearest 5 calories. If a food item has more than 50 calories per serving, the value shown on the label is rounded to the nearest 10 calories. Therefore if a food item has 47 calories, it will be labeled as 45 calories; and if a food item is 84 calories it will be labeled as 80 calories.
    • Total Fat: If a food item has less than 0.5 grams of total fat per serving, the label will show total fat grams as 0. If the total fat content is 0.5 to 5 grams, the label will show the total fat value rounded to the nearest 1/2 gram. If the food item is above 5 grams; the label will show the total fat value rounded to the nearest gram.

When considering a single serving of one food item, rounding may appear insignificant. However you should consider that you might have a number of food items in your daily menu that have the calories and fat grams rounded down.

Nutrient Content Claims

    Calories

    • CALORIE FREE: Less than 5 calories per labeled serving.

    • LOW CALORIE: 40 calories or less per reference amount. If the reference amount is small, less than 40 calories per 50 grams of food. For meals and main dishes, 120 calories or less per 100 grams of food.

    • REDUCED/LESS CALORIES: At least 25% fewer calories per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be low calorie.

    Total Fat

    • FAT FREE: Less than 0.5 grams of total fat per labeled serving. For meals and main dishes, less than 0.5 grams per labeled serving.

    • LOW FAT: 3 grams or less total fat per reference amount. If the reference amount is small, 3 grams of total fat per 50 grams of food. For meals and main dishes, 3 grams or less of total fat, per 100 grams of food; and not more than 30% of calories from fat.

    • REDUCED/LESS FAT: At least 25% less fat per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be low fat.

    Saturated Fat

    • SATURATED FAT FREE: Less than 0.5 grams saturated fat and less than 0.5 grams trans fatty acids per labeled serving. For meals and main dishes, less than 0.5 grams of saturated fat and less than 0.5 grams trans fatty acid per labeled serving.

    • LOW SATURATED FAT: One gram or less per reference amount and 15% or less of calories from saturated fat. For meals and main dishes, one gram or less of saturated fat per 100 grams of food; and not more than 10% of calories from saturated fat.

    • REDUCED/LESS SATURATED FAT: At least 25% less saturated fat per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be low saturated fat.

    Cholesterol

    • CHOLESTEROL FREE: Less than 2 milligrams of cholesterol per labeled serving.

    • LOW CHOLESTEROL: 20 milligrams or less per reference amount. If the reference amount is 30 grams or less, 20 milligrams of cholesterol per 50 grams of food. For meals and main dishes, 20 grams or less cholesterol per 100 grams of food.

    • REDUCED/LESS CHOLESTEROL: At least 25% less cholesterol per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be low cholesterol.

    Sodium

    • SODIUM FREE: Less than 5 milligrams of sodium per labeled serving.

    • LOW SODIUM: 140 milligrams or less per reference amount. If the reference amount is 30 grams or less, 140 milligrams of sodium per 50 grams of food. For meals and main dishes, 140 grams or less sodium per 100 grams.

    • REDUCED/LESS SODIUM: At least 25% less sodium per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be low sodium.

    Sugars

    • SUGAR FREE: Less than 0.5 grams of sugars per reference amount and per labeled serving.

    • REDUCED/LESS SUGARS: At least 25% less sugars per reference amount than an appropriate reference food. The reference food may not be a reduced sugar item.

for more information visit the US Food and Drug Administration   food label education site.