In what order do you read a food label?

A food label has two different faces: the front carries what the manufacturer wants to tell you, the back what it is obliged to tell you. Starting to read from the back rather than the front changes most of the decisions made at the supermarket shelf.

Below we look at the order in which the back is read, why the ingredients list is ordered, when the claims on the front mean something, and how to decide quickly at the shelf.

Why you start from the back

The images, colors and short phrases on the front are designed to shape how the product is perceived. None of them has to be false, but they show selected information.

The ingredients list and the nutrition table on the back, on the other hand, are regulated fields. What is written and how it is written are tied to rules; that is why this is the only place where a comparison can be made.

In practice this means comparing two products you have picked up without looking at their fronts. When two backs are put side by side, the difference usually shows in a few seconds.

Why the ingredients list is ordered

Article 21 of the Türk Gıda Kodeksi Gıda Etiketleme ve Tüketicileri Bilgilendirme Yönetmeliği (the Turkish Food Codex regulation on food labelling and consumer information) requires ingredients to be written in descending order of the amount used. So the ingredient at the head of the list is the one most present in the product.

This single rule makes the label readable. If sugar comes first in a product, that tells you more about what the product is than every phrase on the front.

We covered in detail why the first three ingredients matter in particular in this tip.

What the length of the list tells you

A long ingredients list is not a bad sign on its own; a spiced product or a mixed grain blend naturally carries a long list.

What to look at is not the length of the list but the ingredients at the head of it. A short list with sugar in first place is no less informative than a long list built from familiar ingredients.

Comparing two brands in the same product group helps as well. The difference becomes visible not by looking at a single label but by putting two labels side by side.

When the phrases on the front mean something

Some of the phrases on the front are defined and have an equivalent; others only set up an association. A phrase such as “whole grain” should find its equivalent on the back.

The way to test this is always the same: look for the claim from the front on the back. If it has no equivalent, the phrase is not information but emphasis.

How to decide quickly at the shelf

Reading every product’s label from top to bottom is not realistic. One careful reading done for the ten to fifteen products you buy often speeds up all the shopping that follows.

Making a note of the product you decided on saves time too. Comparing all over again in the same aisle every time turns shopping into tiring work.

When you try a new product, the reading is done again. Even if the brand does not change, a product formula can change over time, and the label is the only place that shows it.

Use-by date and best-before date

The date on the label does not mean the same thing on every product. On some products the date is a safety limit and the product is not eaten once it is passed; on others it describes the period in which quality is best preserved.

Knowing this distinction reduces needless waste. In products such as dry legumes, pasta and canned goods, the product does not have to go into the bin the moment the date passes; smell, appearance and the integrity of the packaging are assessed together.

In raw animal products and ready meals, by contrast, the date is a firm limit. In this group a product you have doubts about is not eaten.

Where the allergen information is written

Allergenic ingredients are indicated in the ingredients list in a way that sets them apart from the others. Bold type, capital letters or a different typeface is used for this.

That distinction lets you scan quickly without reading the list from top to bottom. If you are looking for an allergen, running your eye over the highlighted words rather than the whole list is enough.

Warnings about contamination from the same production line, on the other hand, are written outside the list, as a separate sentence. The two are different things and should not be confused.

Where reading the label reaches its limit

The label tells you what is in the product; it does not tell you how much will be eaten. Even if a product’s label looks good, the total on the plate changes when the portion grows.

In the same way, the label does not tell you whether the product fits your meal routine. That decision is made together with the menu, the shopping list and the habits in the kitchen.

In short: start from the back, look at the first three ingredients, and look for the claim from the front on the back. You can find the whole picture in the shopping and label reading guide and the individual values on the nutrition values page.