Course: Understanding Food Labels

Have you noticed foods that claim particular nutritional or health benefits when you shop? Do you tend to buy them? There are two main types of health-related claims that you …

Food products carry labels to help you, the consumer, make informed choices about what you buy. But they only work if they capture your attention. Once they’ve got that, they …

Food fraud is committed when ‘food is illegally placed on the market with the intention of deceiving consumers, usually for financial gain’ [1]. It can result in significant health risks …

The EU Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulation states that food information should not be misleading, and that it should be clear, accurate and easy to understand [1]. In this …

In 2013 the Guardian newspaper reported that an Italian company was supplying the UK retailer Asda with a ‘Produced in Italy’ tomato sauce that was actually imported from China [1]. …

As you read in Step 1.3, by law, companies are obliged to list all ingredients on the label. This is to protect people with allergies and so that people know …

Tellspec has designed a portable food testing solution that will help consumers find out what’s in their food even if there’s no label. The testing technology scans food extremely quickly …

Consumers are increasingly interested in health and use diet to achieve desired health outcomes [1]. At the same time, people want transparency from food producers so they know what they’re …

Nutrition labels can help you compare products, make healthier choices and eat a balanced diet. As from December 2016, most pre-packed foods must carry a nutrition label on the back …

The ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates we discussed in the previous Step are only relevant if the food is stored properly and the packaging should contain clear instructions, most …

Food labels are made up of many different elements which we’ll be explaining in detail over the next three weeks of the course. In order to clarify the terminology we’ll …