FOOD TIP: Ingredients List

Most packaged foods will feature an ingredients list in descending order by weight. This means that the first food listed will be the highest quantity of all ingredients in the food. In the example below, whole grain wheat is the major ingredient, making up most of the food product, followed by fruit and then sugar.

Ingredients List: Whole wheat cereal

Whole Grain Wheat (56%), Fruit (17%) {Sultanas, (12%), Dried Apple (5%) [Contains Preservative (221)]}, Sugar, Wheat Bran (4.5%), Wholemeal Wheat Flour (4%), Oligofructose, Maize Starch, Minerals (Calcium Phosphate, Iron), Honey, Barley Malt Extract, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Vitamins {Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, E (Contains Soy)}

If fat, salt or sugar are in the first three products listed, the food is more than likely going to be high in fat, salt or sugar and therefore is probably not the best choice. Don't forget that there may be hidden fat, sugar and salt in your food. These nutrients can be listed under different names. Here's what to look for:

• Fat can also be called - vegetable oil/fat, lard, copha, butter, coconut cream or milk, milk solid, animal oil/fat, ghee, dripping, shortening, palm oil, tallow, chocolate, monoglycerides, diglycerides.
• Sugar can also be labeled as - glucose, lactose, sucrose, fructose, cane sugar, molasses, maltose, dextrose, malt extract, treacle, brown sugar, raw sugar, castor sugar, golden syrup, disaccharides, polysaccharides, honey, invert sugar
• Salt can also be called - sodium, sodium chloride, sea salt, garlic salt, chicken salt, sodium nitrite, Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

The percentages that appear in brackets within the ingredients list are called key or characterising ingredients. If a product mentions a particular ingredient in the name of the food i.e. Strawberry yoghurt or if a particular food is associated with the product by a consumer such as wheat in cereal, the ingredients list must show what percentage of the food comes from this ingredient. These are known as the key ingredients.

Any additives in a product will be shown in ingredients list. They are easily identified and will have be written as the class name, followed by either an identification number or the name of the additive. This makes it easy for people who wish or need to avoid certain additives, to identify their presence in packaged foods. Allergens will also be highlighted near the ingredients list, and this is a labeling requirement. Stay tuned for more information on allergens.