Food Labelling Tricks Consumers

Food Labels Are Confusing

The way food is labelled is confusing and misleading, often it is hard to tell what is healthy and supportive and what isn’t. Uncover these food labelling tricks.

Fatty, salty and sugary foods are being promoted as healthy choices because of a dodgy labelling system, a consumer watchdog says.

Claims like “reduced fat”, “low carb” and “high in fibre” can be extremely misleading and don’t give shoppers the full picture, says product reviewer Choice.

“Supermarket aisles are littered with products that make ’99 per cent fat-free’ or ‘high in protein’ claims which are often a cover for their high sugar content. Similarly, claims like ‘source of whole grains,’ or ‘low sugar’ may be drawing attention away from a product’s high saturated fat levels.”

Is Your Healthy Snack That Healthy

Choice has reviewed a number of popular “healthy choices” such as Uncle Toby’s Yoghurt Topps Apricot Muesli Bars which boast ’20 per cent of your wholegrain target’ and claim to be a source of fibre without artificial colours or flavours.

But what the packaging doesn’t advertise so boldly is that they also contain nine per cent saturated fat and 30 per cent sugar.

The reviewer is calling on the public to find other examples of what they call “dodgy food labels” to add to a Wall of Shame – a gallery on their website which will feature the worst offenders.

“Food manufacturers know that ‘health’ sells and at the moment there is nothing stopping them from slapping nutrition claims on a product, even one that is full of saturated fat or added sugar, to make it appear healthy,”.

The choice is calling on the government to introduce a nutrient profiling system, such as “traffic light food labelling”, to make it easier for consumers to identify healthy products.

Currently, only the accuracy of food labelling is regulated, not the way the information is presented.

The Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council is reviewing recommendations by an independent food labelling review panel which has made a number of recommendations, including introducing a nutrient profiling system.

The council is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.

As the article states the food industry is very clever and knows that marketing something as healthy sells. The way food products are promoted is deceitful and very confusing leading to people making poor food choices under the guise that they are getting something that is supposedly good for them. It is time the industry was closer regulated and asked to be more transparent and accountable.

When it comes to choosing food I like to eat things that resemble the way that nature produces them….I like my apple to look like an apple not some processed version of it. In that way, I know exactly what I am eating.