What's in our food: Food labels need extra attention

Interpreting the fine print on food labels is a new skill needed by discerning shoppers - and some diners too.

If you are trying to cut down on fat, sugar and salt, or are worried about your children eating dyes and preservatives, studying labels is essential.

But the two-year-old regime concentrates more on groceries than restaurants or takeaways and understanding the listings - like, "preservative (200)" in cheese slices - can be difficult for newcomers.

Under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, packaged foods must generally carry a label listing their ingredients, nutritional make-up, any required warnings, and a best-by or use-by date.

But foods at restaurants, takeaway outlets, sandwich bars and other "foods for catering purposes" are let off the general labelling requirements by rules that refer, for instance, to food that is "other than in a package".

However, the vendors of these foods must still in some cases inform customers about them. The presence of offal must always be declared in writing, for example. And verbal or written information must be provided on the presence of potential allergens like peanuts, soybeans and milk.

Restaurateurs and takeaway operators must provide nutritional information only if they make a nutritional claim, like saying that a meal is a good source of vitamins, in which case they would have to provide the basic panel plus details on the vitamins.

MacDonald's provides nutritional brochures about its foods and drinks and this year began printing the information on the back of its paper tray-mats.

If you want to understand the numbers often used for listing food additives in the ingredients panels on packaged foods, a useful starting point is the booklet Identifying Food Additives, available from the Food Standards Authority, its website (www.nzfsa.govt.nz) or district health board public health units.

It tells you that preservative (200), mentioned above, is sorbic acid.

Nutrition panels must list at least energy, protein, fat (total and saturated), carbohydrate and sugars, and sodium - both the quantity per serving and per 100g. They must also state the serving size and the number of servings in the pack.

Making the most of this information in a busy supermarket aisle - perhaps while dealing with arguing children - can be tricky, and requires a mathematical mind and sharp eyes for the tiny print.

Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said many people found the labels hard to understand. Printing a "traffic light" dot of green, amber or red on packets to state whether food was healthy or not - a system suggested in Britain - would simplify labels.

She also wants restaurants and takeaway operators required to provide ingredient and nutrient information, the addition of country-of-origin to labels and a lower threshold for having to disclose genetically modified material in foods.