What do the nutritional statements on food products mean?

When shopping in the supermarket, you will undoubtedly encounter a multitude of terms and mentions on food labels. A large majority of these mentions is simply marketing elements, but remains controlled and regulated. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the exact meaning of these terms and to know all the nuances. Let's go into more detail to learn more about the most commonly used nutritional claims for food products.

The most common mentions.

Light: For this statement, manufacturers must specify what the characteristic of the product is light: sugars, fats etc. In general, these products must not contain more than 5g of sugars per 100g or 2.5 per 100ml.

The rule is the same for the mention "low sugar content".

Natural: For this product to be considered natural, it is mandatory that it must be of natural origin and that it must be sold as it is without addition or modification or that after processing it must retain its basic properties (as for ingredients, chopped, pressed, ground, dried, etc...).

 Ecological, bio or organic: these terms make it possible to identify foods produced without fertilizers, antibiotic pesticides or hormones. In addition to this rule, 95% of the composition of these products must be of ecological origin to obtain this label.

 Traditional: This reference does not refer to the origin of the product but to the fact that the product has been made according to a specific recipe or manufacturing process and if the ingredients or raw materials are traditionally used in the production of this product.

The Sugar.

Low in sugars: products bearing this label may not contain more than 5g of sugars per 100g or 2.5g of sugar per 100ml. The plural sugars refer to any type of sugar or sweetener.

No added sugars: for a product to have this statement on its label, it must not contain added sugars of any type of sweetener and must indicate whether the product contains sugar naturally.

Sugar-free: In this case, the products may not contain more than 0.5g of sugars per 100g or 100ml. This includes added sugars as well as sugars naturally present in the product.

 

Fats.

Low in saturated fat: For this statement, the sum of saturated and trans fatty acids may not exceed 1.5g per 100g or 0.75g per 100ml. In any case, the amount of trans fatty acid may not exceed 10% of the energy value of the product.

Without saturated fats: the sum of saturated fats and trans fatty acids must be less than 0.1g per 100g or 100ml.

Low in fat: Cannot contain more than 3g of fat per 100g for solid products or 1.5g of fat per 100ml for liquids. In the case of semi-skimmed milk, it can contain 1.8g of fat per 100ml but this is an exception.

 No grease: For a product to indicate this, it must not contain more than 0.5g of grease per 100g or 100ml.

Salt.

No added salt: To obtain this statement, no salt or sodium may have been added to the product during its manufacture. In addition, it may not contain more than 0.12g of sodium or equivalent salt value per 100g or 100ml

Low salt: Low salt products cannot contain more than 0.12g of sodium or salt equivalent per 100g or 100ml. To be considered very low salt, this amount must not exceed 0.04 of sodium.

Salt-free: In this case, the product must not contain more than 0.005g of sodium per 100g.

Fibers and proteins.

Rich in fibre: The product must contain a minimum of 3g of fibre per 100g or 1.5g of fibre per 100kcal

Protein-rich: Protein must provide a minimum of 12% of the energy value to obtain this label.