Anne Dempsey attends a conference on food labelling in a bid to understand what our food contains
When does the word "energy" deviate from its usual meaning of "strength" and "vigour" and begin to mean something different? When it heads the food labelling list on pre-packaged foods.
Energy, as used by manufacturers, tells consumers - but not clearly unless you know how to decipher the message - the total amount of calories in a particular product.
Check it out. Examine a selection of tins and packets in your cupboard. Under nutritional information, you will find listed first the word energy, usually expressed as a proportion of 100g of the product, and sometimes also given as per portion size or as the amount contained in the can, bar or packet itself.
What does this offer us? It gives us a shorthand way of knowing the total calories in the product. So, for example, the 188kcal listed on my can of potato soup means that it contains 188 calories, and the 36 kcal per 100g listed on my 278g tin of kidney beans means the tin contains over 100 calories in total.
If you're counting calories, this gives a more complete story than the amount of fats, carbohydrate, salt or sugar therein, which are itemised further down the list.
"The key to making an informed consumer choice is to know about labelling," says consultant dietician Roslyn Tarrant, presenting a well-attended public lecture in Dublin, sponsored by Kelkin, on food labelling.
For example, while it is illegal to mislead the public through incorrect labelling, the law is still woolly enough to allow manufacturers use the word 'sodium' instead of 'salt' on a label, without telling us, first, that sodium is salt by another name and, second, that one gram of sodium is equal to 2.5g of salt. So my can of soup which says it contains 0.64g of sodium, is really saying, but effectively hiding the fact, that it contains 1.60g of salt.
Some types of salt and vinegar crisps contain a gram of salt per bag, says Tarrant. "Adults should be having no more than one teaspoonful of salt a day, the equivalent of 6g, or 2.5g of sodium. Research shows that as a society we are consuming in excess of this, many of it hidden salts in food. This is particularly important for people with high blood pressure who need to limit their intake."
Tarrant took us briskly through the function of labels, explaining terms such as enhancers, stabilisers and additives, conducted some label comparisons and gave general guidelines on healthy eating.
Briefly, labels provide information, help us distinguish between similar type foods, and offer safety information as in 'use by' or 'best before'.
A label must display the food name, weight/quantity, ingredients, manufacturer or packager, and country of origin. Labels should be clear, legible, in English and not make false claims.
A label must say a product is irradiated if it is, and offer some proof of name claim, for example, a strawberry yoghurt must give the quantity of strawberries.
New legislation, coming into effect in November, will compel manufacturers to list any allergenic ingredients such as eggs, shellfish, milk, nuts, gluten and more.
Deciphering labels, Tarrant explains, means knowing that ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity. "So if sugar is near the top, you know this is a product high in sugar.
"However, manufacturers have many names for sugar such as fructose, dextrose, lactose; anything ending in 'ose' contains sugar. Syrup and honey are other words for sugar, so in order to see how much sugar there is in a product, you may need to note the total quantity of these."
Similarly with fats which can masquerade as vegetable oil or lard. "We need some fats in our diet, fats are a good source of energy and help us absorb vitamins. There are different kinds of fat which we are inclined to call good and bad fats. Briefly, unsaturated fats - soluble at room temperature - are better for you than saturated fats, like animal fat which hardens at room temperature. Transfatty acids contained in many processed foods, biscuits, cakes and some takeaway chips are the worst of all."
But what people may not realise is that all fats contain the same amount of calories. So although olive oil is better for your heart than lard, you should not slather it on at will. "Fat is fat, and butter, spreads, olive oil and lard all give you the same amount of calories."
A manufacturer may claim on the label that a product is high in a particular product only if it contains 15 per cent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of that product per 100g. "So, given that our RDA of vitamin C is 60mls, a carton of orange juice must contain nine mls of vitamin C to make the claim. Equally, 'low fat' means the product must contain less than three grams of fat per 100g," she explains.
Tarrant warns us to beware of 'reduced fat'. "It means, for example, that a packet of biscuits has less fat than the original, but the original may have been extremely high in fats and this new version could still be high in fats. 'No added sugar' doesn't mean no sugar, as there could be naturally occurring sugar.
"We have no specific regulations regarding health claims on food labels, so manufacturers can make claims such as 'helps maintain a healthy heart' or 'helps digestion', though they cannot claim a food can treat, prevent or cure."
Food additives include colourants, flavour enhancers, stabilisers and preservatives. Colourants replace natural colour which may be lost in processing, thus helping peas to look green again, and gravy richly brown rather the pallid hue each might have been without this cosmetic aid.
What about 'E' numbers which received a bad press some years ago through carcinogenic scares and continue to arouse concern today?
"E numbers are harmless and safe, and have had to pass through an EU regulatory system - there is no need to fear them," says Tarrant.
And what of monosodium glutamate (MSG), generally regarded as an addictive baddie? "MSG is a food enhancer. Anecdotally it is regarded as addictive though this hasn't been proven. You'll find MSG mainly in processed foods like Chinese takeaways and pasta sauces and less likely on the supermarket shelves," she says.
• Food Labelling and Weight Management: nutritional advice for children, adolescents and adults takes place on September 20th at the Hilton Hotel, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2, 6.30-8.30pm. To reserve a place, log on to www.kelkin.ie or email labellingclasses@kelkin.ie .
Processed pasta meal with sauce - Brand A
Ingredients: Wheat flour, vegetable oil, water, mozzarella, tomato, cheddar cheese, tomato purée, vegetable fat, sodium, yeast, thickener, salt, sugar, herbs, spices
Weight: 290g
Cost: €1.74
Nutritional information: Energy 228 kcals, protein 6.8g, carbohydrates 25g (of which sugars 7.9g), fat 12g (of which saturates 3g), fibre 1.5g, sodium 0.8g
Processed pasta meal with sauce - Brand B
Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, mozzarella, tomato, cheddar cheese, tomato purée, vegetable fat, yeast, thickener, salt, sugar, garlic, herbs, spices
Weight: 290g
Cost: €1.89
Nutritional information: Energy 196 kcals, protein 9.1g, carbohydrate 27g (of which sugars 6g), fat 6.5g (of which saturates 1.5g), fibre 1.9g, sodium 0.5g
While the price of these two products is very similar, Brand B pasta meal seems the best buy. It is lower in total calories than Brand A, and contains one-third more protein, less salt, almost equivalent amounts of carbohydrate, more fibre and, significantly, about half the fat.