Food Labels Or Mystery food Maze

The wise men of medicine have been saying it: You are what you eat. And it is never too late to learn to eat right.

All the canned and packaged food on the supermarket shelves look so attractive and so appealing, crying out to you to buy them.

But if you have a medical condition like diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, food intolerance or an allergy, would these pre-packed food be suitable for you?

What is on a food label?

The Food Act 1983 and Regulation 1985 is an important document with rules and regulations for food manufacturers to abide by.

It contain a section which states that in food labelling, the food manufacturer must list the contents or ingredients of the product to inform the consumers of the nutrient contents per 100g or 100ml serving and/or for each portion size.

In essence, a consumer can pick up similar food products, for example a packet of biscuits, and compare the ingredients and nutrients. The ingredients have to be listed in descending order in proportion to weight.

Nutrition labelling in Malaysia

Locally, nutrition labelling is required for some categories of foods.

These include various types of bread and milk, canned meat, canned fish, canned vegetable, canned fruit, fruit juices, salad dressing and mayonnaise, and various types of soft drinks.

For these categories, the manufacturer is required to label the four types of nutrients — energy (calories), fat, protein and carbohydrate.

It may be useful to take a look at the labels on the foodstuff in your kitchen.

• Name of food — e.g. cheese sandwich, cheese crackers , canned chicken soup;

• Content/volume — 150g , 300g, 400g, 250ml, 500ml;

• Expiry date (Sell by or Best before);

• Name of company and business address — Look out for the name of the local company that manufactures them; or the name of the foreign manufacturer and its local importer and distributor;

• Storage instructions — Follow storage instructions on the packaging. Store in a dry and cool place, away from strong lights and odours, or keep chilled or frozen at the temperatures recommended;

• Permitted food additives like preservative, colouring, flavouring, etc;

• List of ingredients in descending order of proportion by weight or volume.

• Nutritional information per 100g or 100 ml or per serving size.

Sometimes, the name of the products may be misleading, like when you expect your cheese biscuits to list cheese as the main ingredients or chicken as the main ingredient in canned chicken soup.

Confusion may occur when the nutritional information per 100g is read and interpreted first without taking note of the serving size.

At a glance, the cheese biscuits seemed to be extremely high in energy or calories, 543kcal per 100g weight compared to only 77kcal 27g (four pieces) but the serving sizes are different.

For some people, there is a tendency to eat more than the suggested serving, therefore, you will need to multiply the numbers accordingly.

For example, if you eat eight cheese biscuits instead of four biscuits per serving as stated, the total calories will be 140kcal x 2, which amounts to 280kcal.

Therefore, it all depends on how much you eat.

Protein is expressed in grammes and may be from either animal or vegetable sources. In the three products mentioned, wheat, cheese powder, skimmed milk and chicken contribute to the total protein intake.

Carbohydrate content, including fibre, are important nutrients, especially for people with diabetes.

There are complex and simple carbohydrates. The carbohydrates can come from wheat flour, potato, noodles, pasta, etc, which may be refined, wholemeal or wholegrain.

The second group, often referred to as simple sugars, are glucose, sugar (sucrose), maltose, dextrose, glucose syrup as well as the natural occurring fructose in fruit and fruit juices plus lactose in milk.

A common misconception is that people with diabetes can drink fruit juices as it clearly states that there is "no added sugar".

This is correct but the fructose which is naturally found in the fruit juice is responsible for the sudden sharp increase in blood glucose.

People with diabetes are advised to take the whole fruit.

Total fats and the type of fat has been debated, with the emphasis on decreasing saturated fats and choosing more monounsaturated fats.

Most vegetable oils are cholesterol free but high in energy value. For example, 1g of fat or oil contains 9 kcal compared to 4kcal for protein and 4 kcal for carbohydrate.

A teaspoon of oil (5g) contributes up to 45kcal.

Fats are used in the manufacturing process of several food products and when reading a food label, look out for the fat content and the calories.

Having additional information on minerals and vitamins like calcium, iron, sodium and vitamins A, B, etc, on nutritional labelling by food manufacturers will be an added advantage to the consumers.

The question on food allergens and labelling was presented and debated at the International Life Sciences Institute seminar in Malaysia recently.

It proposed that the most common food allergens like milk, eggs, fish, wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, soyabean and crustacean be highlighted on the food label to alert those with such food allergies.

A Health Ministry leaflet published in December 2001 titled "Look at the Label" says:

• Do not be taken in by the attractive label on food packages. Instead, study carefully the ingredients used.

• Do not buy food in rusted, dented or bulging cans .

• Check the expiry date, especially if a product is offered at a reduced cost.

• Read carefully the storage instructions and store products accordingly.