You may have noticed the term Guideline Daily Amounts or GDAs mentioned on food labels, but what does it mean? Guideline Daily Amounts are a guide to the total amount of energy and nutrients that a typical healthy adult should be eating in a day.

Consumers like to know what is in their food. They may wish to avoid certain ingredients for a variety of reasons. In Europe, nearly all pre-packaged food must be labelled according to EU law. However, the ingredient labelling terminology may not always be clear to the consumer and for some consumers interpretation of the labelled ingredients is a problem.

The nutrition label is an important vehicle through which food manufacturers can communicate essential information about the nutritional value and composition of their product. Potentially, this represents a valuable tool to help consumers make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle. However, it appears that nutrition labels are not always effective in getting the message across.

For those who are allergic to certain foods, such as wheat or eggs, it is easy to banish them from the diet when they are presented in a natural whole form. However, it is not easy to be sure that those same allergens will not turn up in some pre-prepared food, for example, in sauces.

Labels on food are supposed to help us make informed choices about what we eat. Knowledge about the nutrient composition of our foods is an essential element for choosing a healthy diet. New research by EUFIC suggests, however, that labels are not giving the consumer what they want and are consequently often ignored. Do the current nutrition labelling requirements need to change? Are consumers being listened to? And what do people want from their nutrition labels?

In today’s fast-paced world, we are busier than ever, requiring quick, easy meal and snack solutions to eat in the home or on the go, but the food choices should not be at the expense of our health. Labelling the nutritional content of food has become important not simply because the consumer has a right to know what is in the food but also to help us make proper dietary choices so we can follow a healthy, well-balanced diet.

To be able to choose a well-balanced, healthy diet, consumers need to understand what is in the food they buy. More importantly, allergy-sufferers need to be sure that they are not buying something with potentially unpleasant or, in some cases, serious, even fatal, consequences. Labels are key to communicating such vital information, but do consumers know what they should expect to find on them? And do they understand everything they do find?

When you read a food label, you so often see the term “flavouring” listed. Why are flavours added to food? The answer is quite simple: Consumers have set expectations of how certain foods are supposed to taste. Flavours are often added to restore or ‘upgrade’ the taste lost in processing or simply to improve on nature.

“Functional food” has become a buzzword in the food world and its market share is predicted to grow substantially in the coming years. A lot of people believe that functional foods are those for which health claims can be made. Although this is not always the case it is enough to stimulate a lively debate about the scientific evidence needed to justify health claims.

Based on scientific evidence from more than fifty independent studies, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now allowing manufacturers of foods that have a minimum of 6.25g of soy protein per serving, to claim on the pack of a food or drink product that “25g of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease”.