Nutrition Labelling

Are you confused about what food products are healthy? Are you perplexed by the information on the label? Are you puzzled by product claims? Have no fear… nutrition labelling is here! Nutrition labelling provides nutrient-specific information about prepackaged foods and helps you to compare similar food products and make informed, healthy food choices.

There are 3 parts of information on a food product:

Nutrition Facts Table lists the serving size, calories and amount of 13 key nutrients in the product. The % Daily Value puts nutrients on a scale from 0-100%. It tells you whether there is a little or a lot of a nutrient in 1 serving of the product. Use the % Daily Value to compare food products.

List of Ingredients itemizes which ingredients are in the product in descending order (from most to least).

Nutrition Claims are either Nutrient Content Claims such as "low in fat" or "high in fibre" or Health Claims, which tells you how a specific nutrient in the product affects your health.

Whether it is the Nutrition Facts, the ingredient list or the nutrition claims on the food label, you can use the information to compare products and make healthy choices for you and your family.

External Links:

Health Canada: Provides an interactive nutrition label and quiz activity and answers many frequently asked questions about nutrition labelling