The nutrition panel is the most honest area on a packet. For anyone who cannot read it, it is also the easiest place to be misled.
Which lines are mandatory?
Seven lines are required: energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt.
They appear in that order, and the order does not change, which makes comparing products straightforward.
Fibre is not mandatory but may be added voluntarily. A producer who declares fibre usually sees it as an advantage.
Vitamins and minerals may be listed only where they are present in a meaningful quantity.
| Line | Mandatory | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | Yes | Given in both kJ and kcal |
| Fat | Yes | The total figure |
| — saturated fat | Yes | Included in the total |
| Carbohydrate | Yes | Does not include fibre |
| — sugars | Yes | Natural and added not separated |
| Protein | Yes | — |
| Salt | Yes | Expressed as salt, not sodium |
Per hundred grams or per portion?
The panel must give figures per hundred grams or hundred millilitres. That line appears on every product.
A per-portion column may appear alongside, and that is where the confusion starts.
The producer decides the portion size. A packet of crisps may declare a thirty-gram portion while the packet holds a hundred and fifty.
Comparison always happens on the hundred-gram column. Where two products define portions differently, their portion columns cannot be compared.
What does the sugars line show?
The sugars line covers all the simple sugars in the product.
Natural sugar in fruit and sugar added later do not get separated. A high figure on a fruit yoghurt comes partly from the milk and the fruit.
To understand added sugar you have to read the ingredient list.
As a rough guide, under 5 grams per hundred counts as low and over 22.5 grams as high.
How does the salt line get read?
The panel states salt rather than sodium.
On an older label showing sodium, the salt equivalent comes from multiplying the sodium figure by 2.5.
The daily recommendation is five grams of salt, roughly a teaspoon.
Under 0.3 grams per hundred counts as low, over 1.5 grams as high.
On charcuterie, cheese and packet soups this line is usually the most critical figure on the product.
Why does saturated fat get its own line?
Total fat says little on its own; the type of fat matters more.
Saturated fat gets a separate line because of its effect on blood cholesterol.
Under 1.5 grams per hundred counts as low, over 5 grams as high.
Trans fat is not a mandatory line, but where the ingredient list says partially hydrogenated, the product contains it.
What do the reference intake percentages mean?
Some packets show percentages beside the lines.
Those percentages assume an average adult eating 2000 kilocalories a day.
They do not apply to everyone. Energy needs range from 1600 to 3000 depending on age, sex and activity.
Even so they give a practical tool for comparison, particularly on the salt and saturated fat lines.
Why does the ingredient list need reading separately?
The list runs in descending order of quantity. The first three items make up most of the product.
Sugar appearing near the top of that list tells you more than the sugars line does.
Sugar can appear several times under different names: glucose syrup, dextrose, invert sugar, fruit concentrate. Listed separately, each falls further down the list.
Allergens appear in bold, and that is mandatory.
What rules govern the claims on the front?
Low fat requires under 3 grams per hundred.
Sugar-free requires under 0.5 grams per hundred.
No added sugar is a different claim; the product may still contain natural sugar.
A source of fibre requires 3 grams per hundred, high in fibre requires 6.
These phrases cannot be written freely; each has a numerical definition in the regulations.
Which traps come up most often?
The first is the portion definition. A small portion makes every line look small.
The second is the word light. It does not mean the product is low in absolute terms, only thirty percent lower than a comparable product.
The third is the picture on the front. A product showing fruit may contain five percent fruit; the real figure sits in the ingredient list.
The fourth is the word natural. It has no defined meaning in nutritional terms.
When is there no panel at all?
Single-ingredient unprocessed products are exempt: fresh fruit, vegetables, raw meat.
Very small packets may be exempt where the surface area is insufficient.
Handmade products sold directly to the consumer may fall under different rules.
That exemption does not mean the product has no nutritional content; it only means there is no obligation to print it.
What reading order works in practice?
Find the hundred-gram column first.
Then check the salt and saturated fat lines; those are the ones most often exceeded across a day.
Next compare the sugars line against the names for sugar in the ingredient list.
Finally look at protein and fibre; those two lines decide how long the food keeps you full.
The whole reading takes thirty seconds, and it is the highest-return thirty seconds in a shop.
How do the claims get checked against the panel?
A claim on the front always gets verified against the panel on the back.
Where a product says source of protein, the protein line gets checked; at least twelve percent of the energy has to come from protein.
Where a product claims low fat, the fat line has to sit below three grams.
Outright inconsistency is rare, but the scope of a claim can mislead. A product can be low in fat and high in sugar at the same time.
So no decision comes from one line; the panel gets read as a whole.
