The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the labels found on packaged foods to ensure that the consumer can make healthy dietary choices. In addition to a list of product ingredients, the manufacturer must also list certain nutritional aspects and identify information about the company that makes the product. The product must meet specific nutritional guidelines before the manufacturer can make certain claims about its health value.
Ingredients
All ingredients that go into the food product must be listed on the label by weight. This means that the heaviest ingredients will appear in the list before lightweight ingredients. In a can of soup, for example, water might be the first ingredient, followed by chicken stock, carrots, celery and salt. Just because an ingredient appears at the end of the list does not mean that there is very little of it in the product. It only means that it weighs the least. Because additives and preservatives appear in the ingredient list, consumers wanting to avoid a specific ingredient can determine its presence, although they cannot determine the actual amount.
Nutrition
The nutrition portion of the label contains a wealth of information for the consumer if he can decipher the labeling method.
At the top of the nutrition label, the amount of a single serving and the number of servings in the package appears. This is important because the rest of the nutritional contents reflect the amount of nutrients in a single serving.
The number of calories in one serving appears next with an additional section that lists how many of the total calories in one serving come from fat. Additional fat information details how many grams of fat are in a serving and whether the fat is saturated or trans fat. For those monitoring their fat intake, another column displays the recommended Daily Value (DV) of these ingredients.
Information alerting the consumer to the amount of cholesterol, sodium and carbohydrates follows, each with the weight of the product, in grams, and its DV. Fiber, sugar and protein content are also in this section.
Vitamin content appears as a percentage of the recommended DV. This provides consumers with nutritional information concerning how much they must eat to get the vitamins the FDA determines are necessary for healthy diet. For nutrients not rated by the FDA, no percentage of DV will appear.
Additional Information
In addition to the nutritional information, the manufacturer must include their company name and address. The FDA also regulates any claims made by the manufacturer on the food label. For instance, if the label states that the product is "Sodium Free," it must not contain more than 5 mg of sodium in a single serving.
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