Most packaged foods and drinks have labels that help you:

• see if a food or drink contains a little or a lot of a nutrient
• compare products and pick healthier options
• manage special food needs like allergies. 

Nutrition information panels

Serving size

The serving size is determined by the food business and can sometimes vary between products.

Per serve

Use this column to calculate the amount of energy or nutrients you will eat. Remember to check whether your portion size is the same as the serve size. 

The ‘per serving’ information is useful in estimating how much of a nutrient you’re eating. For example if you’re watching your fat intake use the ‘per serving’ amount to work out how much fat is in a serving of the food.

Per 100 grams or 100 millilitres

The figures in this column are the same as percentages. For example if the per 100g column says that the food contains 20 grams of fat the product contains 20% fat. 

Energy

Carbohydrates protein and fat all provide energy to fuel your body. Energy is measured in kilojoules (kJ).

Fat

Fat is an important source of energy found in oily fish and nuts that can help you feel full. Eating less fat overall is likely to help you maintain a healthy weight.

Saturated fat

The amount of saturated fat in food is listed separately on food labels. High levels of saturated fat have been linked with increased risk of heart disease and blood cholesterol.

Saturated is found in dairy foods meat palm oil and coconut products. Processed foods often contain high amounts of saturated fat including chocolate cakes pastries biscuits pies chips pizza and hamburgers.

Other names for high-saturated fat ingredients: Butter copha cream dripping ghee lard milk solids palm oil suet vegetable shortening.  

Sugar

Carbohydrates are the naturally occurring sugars starches and fibres found in vegetables fruits grains and milk products. They are your bodys main source of energy.  

Processed foods and drinks often contain added sugars to improve colour texture flavour or shelf-life. Try to avoid large amounts of added sugars which provide little to no nutritional value.

Other names for high sugar ingredients: Dextrose fructose glucose honey lactose malt maltose sucrose syrup. 

Sodium

Sodium is the component of salt that affects health. High levels of sodium have been linked with high blood pressure and stroke which is why it is listed on food labels.

Other names for high sodium ingredients: Baking powder monosodium glutamate (MSG) salt sodium ascorbate sodium bicarbonate sodium nitrate sodium nitrite stock cubes. 

Fibre

Fibre is type of carbohydrate found in vegetables fruits and grain foods. It helps to keep your digestive system healthy.

Not all labels include fibre - pick higher fibre varieties of similar products where possible. 

Ingredients list

Ingredients are listed by weight from highest to lowest. If an ingredient is listed near the start of the list then the food contains more of this ingredient than others that appear lower down the list. 

Allergens

Some food ingredients such as peanuts tree nuts fish shellfish milk eggs sesame soybeans wheat and lupin can cause sever allergic reactions. These ingredients must be declared on the food label. 

Health Star Rating System

The Health Star Rating system gives packaged food and drinks a rating out of five stars to reflect the healthiness of a product compared to other similar products.

Keep in mind that many healthy foods like fresh fruit and vegetables and lean meats are not generally packaged and may not have a Health Star Rating.

Helpful tools

FoodSwitch

FoodSwitch provides simple health information and suggests healthier options when you scan a food or drink’s barcode.

It also asks consumers to help out by crowd sourcing images on new products which contributes to research and advocacy for improved food environments.

Download the app from Google Play or iTunes.

Good Tucker

Good Tucker provides nutrition and healthy lifestyle education to young Indigenous Australians to prevent future chronic disease

The app uses a GREEN thumbs up AMBER thumbs sideways or RED thumbs down and a short message to show how healthy a product is. 

Download the app from Google Play or iTunes.