Coursework Example: Nutritional Information That Must Be Provided on Food Labels

Food labeling refers to the process through which information concerning products is concretized and made available by food businesses. Equally important is the fact that food labels cover all food which is sold to consumers directly including foodstuffs sold in restaurants, cafes and catering establishments. The law regulates food labeling thus information that is to be provided ought to be authentic, safe and not misleading. Food labels are deemed essential in the sense that they educate the consumer concerning the food they purchase hence contributing to the process of making informed choices. Moreover, the information enables the client to store and utilize food safely.

The name of the food is perhaps the most fundamental requirement in food labeling where the law stipulates that it is illegal for food to have misleading descriptions or titles. Hence, there are three types of names, which are permissible for use namely legal, customary, and descriptive names as illustrated below (Chefte 2005). Brand names, trademarks, or fancy names may be used in addition to the name of the product.

Figure 1: Types of names used in food labeling

The second item that should be identifiable on a food label is the list of ingredients that constitute the product with the visible label of ingredients. Conventionally, the ingredients are listed in a descending order of weight while taking into account the procedure of preparing the product.

Figure 2: Food label showing ingredients of potato chips

Following the emphasis placed on individual components in the categorization of certain foods, the quantities of such ingredients ought to be specified to avoid instances where a consumer may be misled. This provision is commonly referred to as Quantitative Ingredient Declaration (QUID), which explicitly directs that the particular ingredient is associated with the name of the product (Cowburn & Stockley 2005). Furthermore, prominence is given to the ingredient through the use of graphics, pictures or words as illustrated below.

Figure 3: Ingredients demonstrating the quantity of pork meat

Instructions for use also accompany the manufacturers instructions for preparing the food as illustrated in the image below.

Figure 4: Instructions for preparing different types of products

The durability date is a requirement as it assists consumers in providing reliable information on how to use and store food with the aim of optimizing food safety and reducing waste. The two primary date marks required are the "best before" and "used by" emblems where the former is mostly used in pre-packaged foods, and the product may be used after the stipulated date, but it may not be of the best quality. The used by date mark is used in perishable groups, and consumers run the risk of poisoning if they use the product after the due date (Hawley et al. 2013).

Products also contain special storage instructions, which ensure that the food lasts as long as the date indicated if it is not opened, or even after opening as shown below.

Figure 5: Storage instructions for various products

Food labels also ought to contain the business name, the address of packer, seller or manufacturer in the European Community as depicted in the image below.

Figure 6: Food labels containing business names of manufacturers

The place of origin of a product becomes a necessity if the name implies that the product is coming from a different country from where it is produced.

Identify the guideline daily amounts of fat, sugar, and salt in an adult diet

The Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) presents an average guidance for healthy individuals with recommendations from nutritionists and international studies. Worthy of note is the fact that the requirements for nutrients and calories vary based on size, body weight, age, gender and activity levels (Guenther et al. 2013). Moreover, the calories contained within a food substance are dependent on the nutrients entrenched within. For instance, a gram of carbohydrates has four calories, which are of similar content to a gram of protein. On the other hand, a gram of fat has nine calories while a gram of alcohol contains seven calories. Thus, pundits advice that individuals should limit their calorie intake since if all the energy stored in the food is not spent, the excess amount will gradually be stored as fat. Obesity and being overweight is a direct result of excessive calorie intake, which ultimately augments the risk of health conditions such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes (World Health Organization 2015). Nevertheless, the consumption of too few calories amounts to adverse health effects especially those associated with nutrient deficiencies. Consequently, according to the UK government, the recommended GDA for energy is 2,000 calories, which have been determined to be appropriate for healthy adults.

The two main types of carbohydrates, which also serve as the primary sources of energy, comprise of sugars combined with starches. The most common types of sugars are sucrose, which is prevalent in table sugar and other forms of natural sugars found in foods such as vegetables, fruits, glucose in soft drinks and milk products. Sugars are essential to diets as they provide texture, structure, sweet taste and consistency to the products during food processing. Further, sugars play various roles in the body such as delivering glucose to the brain to provide energy while body tissues use sugar that is stored in muscles and liver to execute their primary functions (Freeland-Graves & Nitzke 2013). Although there exists no clear relationship between the development of severe diseases and sugars or starch, it is advisable that people monitor their sugar intake if they are suffering from diet-related medical conditions and limiting the possibility of tooth decay. Hence, the recommended GDA for sugars has been capped at 90 grams.

Fat provides energy and foods that contain many fat produce significant amounts of energy. Fat is made up of different types namely monounsaturated such as those contained in vegetable oils and nuts; polyunsaturated such as those found in oily fish and saturates fatty acids such as those found in animal fat and butter. A large intake of saturated fatty acids amounts to an adverse health effect hence the need to regulate the amount of consumption. Fats are essential to the body in the sense that they assist in the formation of hormones and transportation and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (Maillot & Drewnowski 2012). Nevertheless, fats are consumed in small amounts due to their enormous potential energy. The recommended GDA for fat is 70 grams, which are consistent with a third of energy based on 2,000 calories in a diet.

Salt is predominantly comprised of sodium chloride with the excess consumption of sodium being detrimental to ones health. A combination of sodium and other nutrients are essential I the regulation of the bodys water content including aiding in muscular activity and nerve function. Moreover, salt is added to food as a flavour enhancer and food preservative through inhibiting microbiological spoilage (Wyness, Butriss & Stanner 2012). Contemporary research indicates that excessive intake of salt increases the risk of high blood pressure which ultimately leads to stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Accordingly, the recommended GDA of salt is 6 grams, which are equivalent to 2.4 grams of sodium.

Use nutritional information from food labels to determine if each of the foods is high, low or neither regarding fat, sugar, and salt content

Conventionally, nutrition labels are exhibited as a grid or panel on the side or back of the packaging of a product. A recent trend indicates a paradigm shift where renowned retailers prefer to display the nutritional information on the front of pre-packed food. This approach is perceived as being instrumental in comparing diverse food products at a glance. In most cases, these labels provide information on the number of grams of saturated fat, fat, sugar and salt and the amount of energy in kcal and kJ per serving of the product (Petrovici et al. 2012). Some nutritional labels, which are found at the front-of-pack, constitute information on reference intakes. Reference intakes provide a summary of how a particular food or drink fits into one's daily diet by providing the approximate amount of the energy that is required for a healthy diet. In the current food production processes, manufacturers are gravitating towards color-coded nutritional information, which provides information at a glance as to whether the food has high, medium, or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar. These colors include red, which indicates high, amber which implies medium and green which denotes low as demonstrated in the image below.

Figure 7: Color-coded nutritional information

According to the NHS, what would constitute a high amount of total fat is food that has more than 17.5 grams of fat per 100g while a low amount is capped at 3 grams of fat or less per 100 grams (McGuire & Beerman 2012). Regarding saturated fat, a high amount would be categorized as more than 5 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams while a low amount is 1.5 grams of saturated fat or less per 100 grams serving. Sugar of more than 22.5 grams of the total sugars per 100 grams is regarded as being high while 5 grams of total sugars or less per 100 grams is considered low. Salt of more than 1.5 grams per 100 grams (equivalent to 0.6 grams of sodium) in food is regarded as being while 0.3 grams or less per 100 grams (equivalent to 0.1 grams) is considered to be low.

Figure 8: Nutritional Information on a loaf of white bread

The food label above indicates that the loaf of bread contains low amounts of fat since the product contains 1.5 grams of the substance including being low in sugar (3.8g) and a seemingly high content of salt, which is 1 gram of salt per 100 grams.

Figure 9: Nutrition facts on canned green peas

This food label indicates that canned green peas are low in fat (0.4g) while it does not contain any saturated fats (0g). Moreover, the product may be regarded as having a low amount of sugars (4.8g) and salt which is indicated as contributing to 13% of sodium intake regard to percentage daily value (%DV).

Figure 10: Nutritional facts of beef jerky

The food label above indicates that the product is low on fat, which has been capped at 4.17 grams per 100 grams while the sugars are regarded as being high since it yields 25 grams of sugar per 100 grams while salt may be considered as being moderate as evidenced by 8% daily value of sodium respectively.

Figure 11: Nutritional information on natural fruit juice

The food label above shows a product which completely lacks in fat and saturated fat. Nonetheless, the product has a considerably moderate amount of sugar while the amount of salt be regarded as being low since it yields 8 grams of sugar per 100 grams and 3% daily value contribution of sodium.

Use nutritional information from food labels to calculate the energy provided by fat, protein and carbohydrate in each food

In reference to figure 8, the energy supplied by fat is 16.2 kcal (1.8 g*9kcal/g); the energy produced by protein is 30.8 kcal (7.7g*4kcal/g), and the amount of energy generated by carbohydrates is 197.2 kcal (49.3g*4kcal/g).

The energy provided by fat in canned green peas (as seen in figure 9) is 3.6 kcal (0.4g*9kcal/g); the energy provided by protein is 12.8 kcal (3.2g*4kcal/g), and that provided by carbohydrates is 67.2 kcal (16.8g*4kcal/g).

Figure 10 illustrates the nutritional information of beef jerky where the energy provided by fat is 37.53 kcal (4.17g*9kcal/g); the ene...