There’s an old saying that doubles as a generally good piece of advice: always read the label. It certainly makes sense to do so before throwing a brand new, expensive item of clothing into your washing machine. And it’s very important to read the label on any medications you’re taking, especially if it’s for the first time.
What about your humble food label, though? For anyone who has a food allergy, the label is very important, of course – even lifesaving in some circumstances. And for those with other intolerances, even minor ones, checking the label first can help avoid a tummy upset, for example.
In general, those who need to know, know. But what about the rest of the population – those of us lucky enough not to have any intolerances? How good are we at reading and actually understanding food labelling? And does it really matter to us if we don’t know or understand what the label is telling us?
Put a label on it
Last year the government agency Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) instituted its first Consumer Insights Tracker (CIT) survey. The inaugural survey of 1237 Australians and 810 New Zealanders focused on:
- trust and confidence in the food system
- trust, use and understanding of food labelling
- health and dietary factors affecting food choices
- food safety knowledge and behaviours
- new and emerging foods and food technologies.
The section focused on food labelling provided some interesting insights into the attitudes of those of us down under when it comes to the label on our foods.
When it comes to actually trusting what’s on the label, most Aussies do, but the majority is not huge. The report shows 65 per cent trusted food labelling overall. That means more than a third of us don’t.
There’s little point in reading the label if you have no trust in the information it’s displaying. There is, however, a small qualifier to the level of distrust being reported here – the location of the food label.
It turns out that some of the reported distrust specifically referred to front-of-pack labelling. This includes things such as claims about health benefits, nutrition/ingredient content and the health star rating (HSR). Front-of-pack claims about health benefits were trusted by only 40 per cent of respondents.
Claims about nutrition/ingredient content (53 per cent) and the HSR (55 per cent) were seen as more trustworthy. Even so, it means that almost half of those respondents did not trust those claims.
Marketing vs. information
Trust in the nutrition information panel, usually displayed on the back or side of food packaging, is significantly higher. Seventy per cent of respondents said they trusted the nutritional information label.
That higher level of trust is understandable for two reasons. Firstly, the label is mandatory, and must include information such as fat and sugar content. Secondly, none of what is displayed on the front of the pack (unless it’s the nutritional information panel) is mandatory. And that includes the HSR.
If you compare breakfast cereals on your next supermarket visit, you might notice some feature the HSR and others don’t. You might even spot this variation on cereals of the same brand. Why? Because displaying the HSR is voluntary, so that companies can choose to display favourable HSRs, leaving unfavourable ones off their packaging.
When the HSR system was introduced in 2014, the government targeted a 50 per cent take-up rate by 2023. However, research shows that it has never reached that level, and is actually falling. Measured at 40 per cent in 2019, it had dropped to 36 per cent last year.
Lessons learned from the label
Even when it is displayed, the HSR can sometimes be misinterpreted. The Natural Super Kids website provides a couple of examples, such as this one: “For example, butter is a natural food that comes straight from a cow. But because it’s high in saturated fat, it has a lower score than a highly processed margarine.”
And for milk, this: “Plain milk has a rating of 4 stars, but Up&Go has 4.5 stars, despite having added sugars and additives.”
When it comes to food, it seems the most important label (with the possible exception of the ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates) is the nutrition information panel. But some would argue that even reading that is not necessary for those without allergies or other food intolerances.
More important than understanding the label, they say, is understanding the difference between whole foods and processed foods, then choosing the former or the latter more often. Those who do so are less likely to have the need to read or understand what’s on the label.
Do you read the label on your food packaging? Is it useful to you? Let us know via the comments section below.
Also read: Superfoods – healthy or just hype?
Disclaimer: This article contains general information about health issues and is not advice. For health advice, consult your medical practitioner.
