Reading a food label
"What does all this on the label mean?" Less than it looks, and the parts that matter are easy to find once you know the rules — which in the EU are a regulation, not a manufacturer's choice.
The mandatory table
Every packaged food in the EU carries the same seven lines, in the same order, per 100 grams or millilitres: energy (in kilojoules and kilocalories), fat, of which saturates, carbohydrate, of which sugars, protein, salt. Fibre is optional and, when present, has its own line. The per-100-gram basis is what makes products comparable; a per-portion column may be added, with the portion size stated.
The rules worth knowing
- kJ and kcal are the same energy in two units — 4.184 kilojoules per kilocalorie. The units calculator converts.
- "Carbohydrate" is available carbohydrate: the sugars and starches that yield energy. Fibre is not included in it, which differs from the US convention where "total carbohydrate" contains fibre. If you compare an EU label with an American database, the carbohydrate figures are not the same thing.
- "Of which sugars" counts all sugars, added and naturally present; the label does not separate the two.
- Energy is computed, not measured, from fixed factors — 4 kcal per gram of protein and carbohydrate, 9 for fat, 2 for fibre, 7 for alcohol — so the energy line rarely equals the sum you calculate to the calorie, and small discrepancies are rounding.
- The reference intake of 2,000 kilocalories printed next to percentages is a single adult reference for labelling. It is not your requirement; the daily energy calculator is closer, and even that is an estimate.
- Tolerances in the EU guidance on the regulation allow labelled nutrient values to deviate from analysis by a margin — on the order of a fifth for the main nutrients at typical amounts — so a label is a good estimate, not a measurement of the packet in your hand.
Per portion, honestly
The manufacturer chooses the portion, and it is often smaller than what people eat: a "portion" of cereal, crisps or a bar is frequently a third to a half of the packet. Read per 100 grams, weigh what you eat, and let the app do the multiplication.
In the app
Catalogue products carry nutrition per 100 grams from source-backed data, and the label's conventions — available carbohydrate, fibre separate — are the app's conventions too, so what you read on the packet is what the diary counts.