Research suggests that for a majority of Canadians, food labels play a key role in providing us with information on the foods we buy. However, the same research indicates we don’t always understand everything we read, and many of us are confused by the terms we see on labels.

Fortunately, this situation is easily fixed. Understanding a few basic terms can make label reading quick and easy.

Nutrition Labelling: A Three-part Process
As of December 2007, most packaged foods in Canada must display a standardized label that has three different but related components:

• Nutrition facts
• Nutrition claims
• Ingredient list

Each of these label parts provide you with slightly different information on the nutritional value of a product and how it contributes to health.

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Understanding the Nutrition Facts Table
The Nutrition Facts table gives you information on the nutritional value of food products. This area of the label shows you the number of calories in a specific serving size of the food as well as the amounts, in grams or milligrams, of 13 core nutrients.

It’s important to recognize that all the information in the Nutrition Facts table is based on the specific serving size displayed. If you eat more than the amount shown, you will take in more calories and nutrients than displayed on the label. If you take in less than the specified serving size, you will take in fewer calories and nutrients than shown.

The Nutrition Facts table lets you compare foods using the % Daily Value. The % Daily Value is a tool you can use to see if a food has a little or a lot of a nutrient. The higher the % Daily Value, the more of a nutrient the food contains. You can also use the % Daily Value to compare the nutritional value of different food products.

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Understanding Nutrition Claims
Nutrition claims are a way of highlighting a nutrition feature of a specific food or a link between some characteristic of the food and health.

The government has rules that manufacturers must comply with before a nutrition claim can be used on a food label.

It’s also important to recognize that unlike the Nutrition Facts table or the ingredient list, nutrition claims are not mandatory. Instead, a manufacturer can choose whether or not to include a nutrition claim on a product.

Some common terms used to highlight a nutrition feature of a food include:

• “cholesterol free”
• “free”
• “light” or “lite”
• “source of”

All of these terms have defined meanings. It’s important to know what these terms really mean, and what they don’t mean, when reading labels.

For example, the term “cholesterol free” means that a food contains less than two milligrams of cholesterol in the serving size shown in the Nutrition Facts table. It also means the food is low in saturated fat and trans fat.

It does not mean the food is fat-free, reduced in calories, or that you can have unlimited amounts. For example, many margarines could be labelled “cholesterol free” while still providing significant calories and fat. 

Health Canada has prepared a list of nutrition claim definitions that are easy to read and understand. See the Food and Nutrition link at the end of this article.

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Reading an Ingredient List
All food products are required to provide an ingredient list on the label.

The ingredients in the list are shown in descending order by weight. The more of an ingredient by weight that there is in a food, the higher up on the ingredient list it will appear.

You can use the ingredient list to get a rough idea of how nutritious foods are. For example, if you compare two different loaves of bread, the one that shows whole-wheat flour as one of the first three ingredients is likely more nutritious than the one that contains only bleached white flour.

The ingredient list is also very helpful for people who suffer from food allergies or intolerances and for those who must avoid specific ingredients to comply with special diets.

Understanding the language of food labels can help you turn your interest in nutrition into food choices that promote your health and wellness. Make sense of food labels by understanding what the three components of our food labels—nutrition facts, nutrition claims and ingredient lists—are intended to do and what common labelling terms mean.

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Learn More
Decoding the Nutrition Food Label
EatRight Ontario offers this easy-to-read information on reading nutrition labels.

Healthy Eating is in Store for You (Nutrition Labelling Education Centre)
The Dietitians of Canada and the Canadian Diabetes Association teamed up to create this website. It is a wealth of information on label reading. Practice your skills in their “virtual grocery store.”

Food and Nutrition
This list by Health Canada explains the definitions of the more common nutrient claims.

Nutrition Labelling
Health Canada provides this comprehensive information on Canada’s food labelling system for both consumers and health professionals.

Interactive Nutrition Label: Get the Facts
This tool from Health Canada is an interactive way to get a handle on reading nutrition labels.

How to Read Canada’s Nutrition Labels
This diagram by CBC gives a quick overview of the anatomy of a nutrition label.