Dozens of symbols appear on a food package. Some are legal requirements, some sector standards and some purely marketing.
Which symbols are mandatory?
Food labelling in Turkey is governed by the Turkish Food Codex.
Mandatory information includes the product name, ingredient list, net quantity, date wording, storage conditions, producer details and batch number.
Some appear as words and some as symbols.
Allergen information is mandatory and highlighted in the ingredient list in bold or another distinguishing way.
Fourteen allergen groups are defined: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide, lupin and molluscs.
A nutrition table is mandatory too, showing energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt.
That table is given per hundred grams or hundred millilitres.
An additional table per portion is voluntary.
What do the snowflake and stars tell you?
That is among the most misread symbols.
The snowflake indicates that the product is frozen.
Star markings are used on freezer cabinets and refrigerator compartments.
The number of stars indicates the temperature that compartment reaches and therefore the storage time.
One star is minus 6 degrees; frozen product keeps a week.
Two stars is minus 12; a month.
Three stars is minus 18; three months.
Four stars is minus 18 or below, plus the capacity to freeze fresh product.
Product can be kept in that compartment until the date on the pack.
The storage advice on a package is written against that star system.
Phrases like "3 months in a three-star compartment" use it.
| Symbol | Meaning | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| Snowflake | Frozen product | Yes |
| Glass and fork | Suitable for food contact | Yes (for packaging) |
| Green dot | Contribution to a recovery scheme | Varies by country |
| Number in a triangle | Plastic type code | No, but common |
| Leaf logo | Organic certification | Yes where certified |
| Halal logo | Halal certification | Voluntary |
| Crossed ear of wheat | Gluten-free certification | Voluntary |
What does the food-contact mark mean?
It is a glass and fork symbol.
It indicates that the packaging is suitable for contact with food.
That is a declaration that the packaging material passes no harmful substance into the food.
The symbol concerns the container, not the product itself.
It appears on storage containers, plates and packaging films.
A container without that symbol should not be used to store food.
Reusing paint and chemical containers is particularly dangerous.
Some packaging carries further symbols: microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe, freezer-safe.
Those are different things and should not be confused; a microwave-safe container may not be freezer-safe.
How are recycling codes read?
The numbers inside a triangle indicate the type of plastic.
Number one is PET, used for water and drinks bottles.
Number two is HDPE, used for milk bottles and detergent containers.
Number three is PVC.
Number four is LDPE, used for bags and film.
Number five is PP, used for yoghurt pots and microwave-safe containers.
Number six is PS, used for foam packaging.
Number seven is other.
Those numbers do not directly say whether the product can be recycled.
They only identify the material.
Recycling provision varies by municipality.
A separate symbol, the three-arrow loop, states that the material is recyclable.
The green dot indicates that a financial contribution has been made to a recovery scheme; it does not mean the packaging is recyclable.
That is a frequently confused distinction.
What do certification logos guarantee?
The organic logo shows that the product was made in line with organic farming legislation and audited by an independent body.
The certifying body's code appears beside the logo.
Without that code the logo is invalid.
The halal logo states that the product was made in accordance with halal requirements.
Accredited bodies issue that certificate in Turkey.
Gluten-free certification — a crossed ear of wheat — guarantees that the gluten content is below 20 parts per million.
That is a stronger claim than the words "gluten free"; certification involves auditing.
Some packaging also names quality systems: ISO 22000, HACCP, BRC.
Those belong to the production facility's systems rather than to the product itself.
They nonetheless show that the producer runs an audited process.
What separates the two date phrases?
Two different phrases are used, and their meanings differ.
"Use by" concerns safety.
It is used on rapidly perishable products: fresh meat, milk, prepared salads.
The product should not be eaten after that date.
"Best before" concerns quality.
After that date the product is generally safe but has lost its best quality.
It is used on dry goods, canned goods and frozen products.
That distinction matters for reducing food waste.
Dried pasta past its best-before date is generally still edible.
A batch number also appears on the pack.
That number allows a product to be recalled where a problem arises.
A production date appears on some products; not mandatory, but an indicator of freshness.
How should claims be judged?
Marketing phrases appear on packaging too.
Some of them are legally defined.
"Low fat" means less than 3 grams of fat per hundred grams.
"No added sugar" shows that no sugar was added but the product may contain natural sugars.
"High fibre" means more than 6 grams of fibre per hundred grams.
Those definitions are written into legislation and are audited.
But phrases such as "natural", "traditional" and "homemade" are not defined.
They are marketing language and carry no guarantee.
The most reliable source of information is the ingredient list; ingredients appear in descending order of weight.
The first three ingredients largely reveal what the product is.
Looking at the list on the back rather than the image on the front is the most practical rule for reading a label.
