DO YOU KNOW WHAT INFORMATION FOOD LABELS CONTAIN?

The market presents many different brands for a single product, and it is difficult to know which meets the needs of our people.

It is actually quite simple if you learn to read the product labels. It takes just a few seconds and can vary in quality and buying in quantity.

How many times have we bought the same product, simply because we have seen it always, or because it's a known brand? There are many factors that influence our shopping cart, and that says much about the final quality of our purchase. And not necessarily a quality shopping is more expensive or heavier.

In addition, if we know our food pyramid, we will becoming increasingly easy and tempting to make a good buy, as long as we take care not to go to the supermarket without ideas (or on paper) what we eat at home.

But what information tags contain? To unify this information, the Commission adapted (in early 2008) a draft regulation for the labeling of food was more transparent for the consumer.
Here are some of the main points of the proposal:
Prepackaged foods should be obligatory information on the energy content of fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars and salt / sodium (always in that order) on the front of the pack.
The content is expressed per 100 g or 100 ml of product, or portion of the food as sold. And should also indicate the percentage of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) cover. This information does not relieve the manufacturer required to declare the amount of other substances, if alleging nutrition.
Products with allergenic substances in their list of ingredients should be aware of it, even if it is not pre-packaged foods. Quite a few ingredients that can cause allergies or intolerances: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphites, lupine and molluscs.
The information must be legible (with a minimum size of 3 mm) and with a significant contrast between the print and background.
The Regulation requires that products with more than three grams of total fat (eg margarine, sausages, etc.) Is also report the content of cholesterol and total fat content broken down into: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and fatty trans fatty.

If the product says nutrition and / or special health will be included on the label in addition to the minimum nutritional information, the statement based on the declared special feature.