Nutrition label
A nutrition label is the panel on packaged food declaring energy and nutrient content per serving and per 100 g; regulations permit a tolerance between the declared and actual values, typically around 20 per cent.
The label is the most reliable nutrition information you will ever have, and it is still an estimate with a legal tolerance attached.
Read the per-100g column
The per-serving column is the one designed to look reasonable. The per-100g column is the one that lets you compare two products and work out what the whole packet costs. If a label only gives per-serving figures, find the serving weight before believing anything.
What the numbers include
Energy is usually given in both kilojoules and kilocalories. Carbohydrate is declared either including or excluding fibre depending on the country, which is one reason the same product can show different calories in different apps. "Of which sugars" covers both added and naturally occurring sugars, so plain milk looks sugary and is not.
Where labels quietly mislead
Serving sizes smaller than anyone eats. "Zero calorie" claims that are rounded down and legal under a threshold. Cooking oil absorbed during frying that a raw-product label cannot know about. And products sold loose, cooked fresh, or made at home, which have no label at all — which is most of what most people eat.
Sources
- 1.FoodData Central — USDA Agricultural Research Service
- 2.Open Food Facts — Open Food Facts
Related reading
- How to read a nutrition label in ten seconds
Which column to look at, what the serving size is hiding, how much tolerance the numbers carry, and the four claims on the front of the pack that mean nothing.
- Nine calorie tracking mistakes that quietly add up
The errors that make a careful food log disagree with the scale: cooking oil, serving sizes, weekend gaps and raw-versus-cooked entries, with the fix for each.
- What barcode scanning can and cannot do
Scanning is fast and accurate for packaged food, which is a small part of most Indian diets. Where it helps, where it fails, and what fills the gap.
- Why two apps give the same roti different calories
Different databases, source types, raw versus cooked states and user-submitted entries. Why calorie apps disagree, and which number you should actually use.