How to Read Food Product Content Labels

Most prepared food items in the grocery store are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to post a product content label on their packages. Fruits, vegetables and fish are not required to have nutrition details. Nutrition details are important because it gives the consumer certain facts about the food item they are buying. Food nutrition labels can be a bit confusing to understand, because of all the information listed. The nutrition facts information can be understood more easily when everything is broken down.

Instructions

• 1

  Look at the serving size on the label. Many people are wrong in what they consider to be a correct serving size. Frequently, people think that a can or package of food has one serving, when in fact the can or package may contain two or more servings. The rest of the information on the label will pertain to one serving of the food item.

• 2

  Look at the calories per serving. This will tell you exactly how many calories are in one portion of the food item. It will also list how many servings are in the entire package of food. Listed to the right of the calories per serving is how many of those calories come from fat. When you know how many calories are in one serving, you will know exactly how much to make for however many people you are cooking for.

• 3

  Look at the daily value percentages of the nutrients in the food on the far right side of the label. A certain amount of various nutrients are needed to keep a person healthy. The daily percentage values indicate how much of a nutrient or vitamin is in one serving of the food item. A food label generally lists information in accordance to someone who eats 2,000 calories a day. These percentages may change depending on how many calories you eat in a day.

• 4

  Look at how much sodium, cholesterol, carbohydrates and total fat are in one serving. These amounts are listed in grams or milligrams. The total fat is broken down into various kinds of fat, including saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat. The carbohydrates section includes fiber and sugars.

• 5

  Read the list of ingredients that are in the food product. The ingredients are listed in descending order, listing the ingredient with the highest amount first. If you have any allergies to a particular food, this section is important to take note of. If there's an ingredient listed that you're allergic to, put it back.