How to read food labels

Research shows that most consumers do examine product labels before making a buying decision, but do they really understand what they’re looking at?

You can actually tell a lot about products by looking at the food labels or dietary supplement labels, everything from the ingredients and calories to whether or not it’s an organic food or includes genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Some of the information, like the Nutrition Facts label, is required by government regulations. Other information is there because the company wants customers to know about what’s in the product or how the ingredients were grown. Transparency is important.

For those of you who don’t usually look at food labels before putting something in your cart (virtual or otherwise), here’s a basic guide on how to read food labels and what some of the terminology means.

Deciphering the Nutrition Facts label

The Nutrition Facts label is easy to recognize. Regulations require conventional foods and dietary supplements to display one on packaging to help consumers make smarter food choices. The chart clearly lists serving size, calorie count, the amount of certain nutrients in each serving and the percentage of the Daily Value of that nutrient they represent.

The Daily Values are the recommended amounts of nutrients someone should consume or not exceed each day. They are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Showing the percentage can help consumers know if the food is high or low in that nutrient – 5% or less is low, 20% or more is high.

The nutrients included in the chart are total fats, saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates (fiber, sugars), protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium. Whether you want high or low depends on which nutrient you’re talking about, of course.

Saturated fat and sodium? Look for the low numbers. Dietary fiber, protein or vitamins? Go high. (Note: Unless the product is designed to deliver protein like protein powders, drinks or bars, the chart isn’t required to include a daily value percentage for protein, only the amount per serving.)

All these numbers can be helpful when trying to make healthy decisions about food. From the chart, you know that the serving size is only a quarter of a bag of chips and not the whole thing. (Oops.) Or you can be aware that you just consumed about half of your daily value of sodium in one sitting, allowing you to monitor your sodium intake for the rest of the day.

What does it mean if a food is labeled organic?

What is organic food? In the most general sense, organic food is food that is produced without conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or any kind of bioengineering. If meat, eggs and dairy products are labeled organic, that means they come from animals that were given no antibiotics or growth hormones during the animal’s lifetime.

The most common label you will see is the USDA organic seal. Most items with this seal have met strict production, certification and labeling standards under the regulation of the National Organic Program, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Products under this seal have been produced without genetic engineering and do not contain GMOs. There are rules that allow natural substances to be used in organic farming while forbidding the use of synthetic chemicals and fertilizers.

Currently, there are four separate USDA labeling possibilities for organic foods:

1. 100% Organic: All ingredients must be certified organic, and any processing aids also must be organic.
2. Organic: All ingredients in these foods must be certified organic. In some cases, specific non-organic ingredients are allowed, up to a total of 5%.
3. Made with organic: These are typically multi-ingredient products. At least 70 percent of the product has to be certified organic. Any other food ingredients included don’t have to be produced organically but can’t have been produced using prohibited methods.
4. Specific organic ingredients: You will sometimes see food packaging with only certain ingredients listed as organic. These are generally multi-ingredient products that have less than 70 percent of their total ingredients that qualify as certified organic.

When you are searching for organic foods, beverages and other organic products, it pays to be a label detective and understand the quality behind the brand. For example, Amway’s Nutrilite™ brand is the first and only global vitamin and dietary supplement brand with a USDA Organic certified product line to grow, harvest and process plants on their own certified organic farms.*

Amway owns nearly 6,000 acres at four certified organic farms (two of which are in the U.S.) where plants are grown for processing into extracts used in a wide selection of Amway™ products, including supplements, meal replacements, skin care and personal care.

What does non-GMO mean

The acronym GMO means Genetically Modified Organism. Any animal, plant or other organism whose genetic material has been changed in ways that don’t occur in nature is considered GMO, or, under the USDA standards, bioengineered.

A non-GMO label means that a food and its ingredients have been produced without the use of genetic engineering, and that herbicides that contain GMOs have not been used.

Non-GMO does not mean a food is organic or that it has been produced according to certified organic standards. Non-GMO foods can be grown and produced using conventional, non-organic farming methods. The Non-GMO Project is the nonprofit that handles the third-party verification and labeling program for all non-GMO foods in North America.

Let’s talk about expiration dates

Many foods and dietary supplements will also have a date printed on the label, whether it’s an expiration date, a sell by date, a best by date or a use/freeze by date. Those dates do not indicate whether a product is safe or not. They do provide information about the product’s potential quality over time.

The USDA does not require expiration dates on most foods or supplements, but many manufacturers choose to use them to ensure product quality for consumers. There are no uniform definitions of dating terminology, but here are some common examples:

• Best if used by/before: Indicates when a product will have the best quality.
• Sell by: Indicates how long a store should display the product for sale. 
• Use by: The last date recommended by the manufacturer for the highest quality.
• Freeze by: Indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality.

In general, manufacturers do not guarantee a product’s freshness, quality or stability after the date indicated on the label. Once that date passes, a product’s appearance, flavor, texture or nutritional value may have changed.

Expiration dates for Nutrilite supplements, for example, are set by scientists who conduct studies on how long the product holds up under conditions in which it might be shipped or stored — both before and after it has been opened. Nutrilite products are distributed into climates ranging from hot and humid (think Mississippi summers) to extreme cold (Alaskan winters), so setting a common expiration date is complex.

The goal is to determine the length of time that a product will retain its optimum potency, consistency and overall quality. After that time, the quality and effectiveness of the products cannot be guaranteed. Nutrilite scientists advise tossing supplements after their expiration dates to ensure the highest quality nutrients.

With all this information, you should be able to shop with more confidence as you read packages, examine nutrition labels and decide between organic food vs conventional or GMO vs non-GMO. Remember, look for nutrient-rich foods that will be best for your body and your family’s health!

*Source: GlobalData (https://gdretail.net/amway-claims/)