LOOK BEFORE YOU COOK; The Words on the Packet Can Tell You a Lot..If You Know the Code

By Samantha Booth

ASDA and Marks & Spencer are phasing out all artificial colours and flavours from their own-label food.

Asda claim all 9000 of their food and soft drink products will be free of E-numbers by 2007 while Marks & Spencer say their 4500 goods will be 99 per cent free of artificial colours and flavours by that time too.

But while steps to make us more aware of what we eat are definitely heading in the right direction, statistics show most people still unwittingly eat more than 20 additives a day.

Author Richard Emerson has written a guide to food labels called Read the Label! Discover What’s Really In Your Food.

Here are some of Richard’s key pointers so you can crack the food label code.

HOW TO READ A FOOD LABEL

FOOD companies can choose what information they provide because there are only certain things they have to reveal by law.

There is also little in the way of an industry standard so here are some the main things to watch out for.

Promotional claims: Descriptions such as "homemade", "traditional" and "natural goodness" should all be viewed with suspicion.

Brand name: Everything must carry a legal name which is an accurate description of the product. But it can be in tiny print.

Health claims: Food firms can get into trouble if they tell lies, but they may try to stretch the truth.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

THIS is the most important part of the label if you are concerned about your family’s diet.

It lists calorie content and levels of fat, protein and carbohydrate.

It must also show you here if the maker has made a claim about the product, such as "low fat".

Proteins are simply listed in grams while carbohydrates are often broken down into complex carbs listed as "of which starches" and simple carbs listed as "of which sugars".

Simply put, complex carbs are the healthy ones.

WHAT GOES INTO YOUR FOOD

THE ingredients list must name all the food items and chemical additives a food product contains.

No matter what else it says on the packet, this section must be accurate.

On the list, key ingredients come first with percentages showing what proportion of the dish they make up.

Generally, the higher the percentage of basic ingredient, the better quality of product. The ingredients of composite ingredients are also listed in brackets.

Ingredients to avoid because they are associated with poor quality or unhealthy products are:

Bulking ingredients: Usually listed as "textured vegetable protein", although sometimes chicken can contain "beef protein".

Fats: Although we mainly consider vegetable oil to be better than animal fats, some, such as palm oil, are mainly saturated fats. Hydrogenated and trans fats should also be avoided.

A two per cent increase of trans fats in the diet can increase the risk of heart disease by 23 per cent. A low-fat product should contain less than 3g per 100g and a high fat product has 20g or more per 100g.

Sugars: Hidden sugar can be called by a range of names, including dextrose, hydrolysed starch, invert syrup and maltose.

But the worst of all is the highly processed, high-fructose corn syrup, or glucose-fructose syrup as it is sometimes listed.

A product with high-sugar content is one with 15g or more per 100g, a medium sugar content is one between four and 14, and a low one is under five grams.

Salt: Products with 1.5g or more of salt in 100g are considered to be high in salt. Low in salt are those with 0.3g or less.

VEGETARIANS OR VEGANS

HERE are some of the most common animal-derived ingredients: Albumen and lecithin which come from eggs.

Aspic, gelatine, glycerine (or glycerol) and rennet from animals.

Casein, lactitol, lactose and whey from milk.

Cochineal and shellac from insects.

Chitin from shellfish.

WARNING BOXES

INGREDIENTS which pose a risk should be listed in a separate box under "Warning" or "Allergens".

(c) 2007 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.