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Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

  • 1.  Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 27-04-2021 16:44

    Hi All,

    The advocacy team have approached me with questions around food labelling. Any answers you have to the below would be helpful.

    The information that is communicated to us on food labels can be confusing and limited.

    • Do you regularly read the food labels of products you buy?
    • Do you do this only for new products, or for products you have consumed before?
    • What is the most difficult/annoying aspect of food labelling?
    • Do you rely on the health star rating, or do you still look at the more detailed components?
    • Would you like to see a 'diabetes' rating, or would that complicate your personal choices?
    • What would be the components you would expect in a 'diabetes' rating?


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    Live Your Life Community Team
    Natasha & Erin
    membership@diabetesnsw.com.au
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  • 2.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 28-04-2021 08:18
    1. Yes 
    2. for lots of products old and new to me
    3. no GI number
    4. look at detailed components. Star ratings can be inaccurate
    5. I'd like to see an accredited GI number on as many processed food products as possible
    6. Total carbs, sugars, added sugars, dietary fibre, salt, total fats, saturated fat, trans fat, GI - values per serve & per 100g equivalent

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    David
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 28-04-2021 09:13
    I always read nutrition label on new products and will compare against similar products bought before.
    Advertising labels are rubbish. 
    I do gravitate towards 5 star products but still compare nutrition labels as not all products are labelled this way. 
    Diabetes labeling would help if on more products.   Should denote low: sugars, GI, carbs and saturated fats. Low salt too?
    Would like another category on nutrition label, % Raw Food.

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    Deb
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 29-04-2021 06:52
    1 yes
    2 no, yes
    3 Small print
    4 no, yes
    5 yes, please
    6 carbs, fats


    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 29-04-2021 09:25
    I always check food content on old and new products and compare product content for 100g and food serves.
    I would very much like more labelling for people with diabetes and listing GI on food.

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    Kerry
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 28-04-2021 10:23
    I believe that food labelling is so important to how we eat. In answer to your questions:
    • I always read food labels of food that I buy. I am also gluten free and dairy free and need to be able to know exactly what is in the product.
    • Once I have established that the food is suitable, I don't continue to read the labels.
    • Understanding what the terms and amounts actually mean - once this is understood, reading the labels is relatively straight forward. For example, simply understanding that 4gm sugar is equal to 1 teaspoon of sugar will make more sense of sugar content for most people.
    • I look to the labels rather than the health star ratings. I tend to find that I disagree with some of the health star ratings.
    • A diabetic / GI rating would be a valuable extra on all food labels. Sugar is already there but a GI rating would also be beneficial - not just for diabetics, but for anyone who understands food and how it works in the body. 
    For anyone who is interested, there is an app called FoodSwitch where you set the information that you are interested in following, for example, sugar, and then scan the barcode which then brings up all the relevant information about the product. I use it all around the supermarket for checking gluten content of foods. 

    Carolyn



    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 28-04-2021 13:41
    Dear Advocacy Team

    In answer to your questions:
    • Do you regularly read the food labels of products you buy?

      Yes, all the time.

    • Do you do this only for new products, or for products you have consumed before?

      Mainly for new products but sometimes for products I have consume before.

    • What is the most difficult/annoying aspect of food labelling?

      The most annoying aspect is the serving size in some supermarket online nutritional value charts where they give the values per serving size but don't actually define the serving size on their website (not the product itself), then you have to go to the picture of the product with the nutritional chart on it, enlarge the picture and try and work out what the actual serving size is, if indeed there is actually a picture.  So frustrating.
       
    • Do you rely on the health star rating, or do you still look at the more detailed components?

      No, never as I understand some years ago that rating was "bought".  The way health star ratings are awarded may well have changed, but I do not trust it.  I would welcome any education as to the current reliability of the ratings.
      .
    • Would you like to see a 'diabetes' rating, or would that complicate your personal choices?

      "Yes" to a diabetes rating; and "No" it would not complicate my personal choices because if I couldn't understand/or if it was irrelevant to me, I would ignore it.

    • What would be the components you would expect in a 'diabetes' rating?

      I would very much like to see a GI rating standard on every product as I have difficulty in finding that information quickly.  I have a few reference charts for generic food types but that just gives you a guide.  For advanced carbohydrate counting it would be wonderful to be able to choose the lower GI food that has the same carbohydrate value of other products.  Maybe I need to buy a GI pocket book, any recommendations in that regard would be very welcome.
    Regards

    Julie



    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 29-04-2021 07:34



    • Do you regularly read the food labels of products you buy??????????? YES.
    • Do you do this only for new products, or for products you have consumed before????????????? MOST TIMES FOR MOST PRODUCTS.
    • What is the most difficult/annoying aspect of food labelling????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? READING THE INFORMATION. e.g. WHITE WRITING ON YELLOW (some crackers); RED & WHITE WRITING ON PINK; HEINZ 130g BAKED BEANS,
    • Do you rely on the health star rating, or do you still look at the more detailed components????????????????? I LOOK AT MORE DETAIL.
    • Would you like to see a 'diabetes' rating, or would that complicate your personal choices??????????????????????? NOT NECESSARILY, IMPORTANT TO SEE LESS 'PICTURE' AND BIGGER FONT.
    • What would be the components you would expect in a 'diabetes' rating??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? CARB/SUGAR, FAT, PROTEIN, SODIUM. That is already happening!



    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 30-04-2021 10:45
    I find the labelling extremely hard to read. The size of the font is way too small add to that the colours and it makes it almost impossible to read without a magnifying glass. 
    I have given up trying to read some labels, the product usually gets put back on the shelf.
    It doesn't matter if you usually buy a certain product they change their recipes and then the nutritional panel that you have become familiar with is no longer what your memory has stored about it. It pays to read them all the time.

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    Ursula
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 28-04-2021 14:10
    I have a complaint to make about the nutrition panel on food containers. The font used is often too small to read and the colour is not well thought out, a white panel with black font type would make it much easier.

    I do read the panel, mainly for the calorie and carb/sugar content. For anyone having difficulty reading the impossibly small writing, what I do is take a photo of the nutrition panel with my phone. Then I am able to maximise the image so that I can read it.
    Karen 



    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 29-04-2021 13:15
    I am gluten and dairy intolerant as well as being T2 so I read the food labels religiously to ensure there is no gluten, although I use the ingredient checklist from the Coeliac Association to help with this. I also check for the amount of fat, carbohydrates and sodium and check with the totals based on the "per 100 gms" column. Some items are already labelled with the Coeliac crossed wheat sheaves so I know they are gluten free, but some items I have to read carefully to determine if they are gluten free by ingredient.

    I would love FSANZ to be more proactive in what is included on the nutrition panel; yes you can guess from the number of carbs per serve how many exchanges a food might be, but I hate when a package contains multiple items and the label says it contains say 3.5 serves. Does this mean I have to count how many items are in the package or weigh part of the food and do the calculation, and why is there even part of a serve?

    It would be helpful if the labels showed more diabetic-friendly information such as how many exchanges a serve is equivalent to; I guess it would be too much to ask for it to also show where a food sits on the GI continuum as well.



    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 29-04-2021 15:30
    I always read food labels of product I buy.  Local products (Australian made) are easy to follow whilst imported foods have different label formats which are not easy to follow.  I don't really rely on star rating but prefer to look at more detailed components, for example, average quantity of Carb and sugar per 100g.  I personally believe GI symbols should suffice.  My dietician has provided me below links about GI symbol products which I find very useful.

    https://www.gisymbol.com/
    https://www.gisymbol.com/low-gi-products/

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    An
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 30-04-2021 07:22
    Yes - always read labels

    For new products as well as old, my memory isn't young

    Annoying sometimes are these two perceived traits, 1. The detal is camouflaged in the label design, making it hard to read, 2. The order of the detail doesn't  to be consistent.

    Ignore the star system, I suspect it is influenced by dollars and not facts.

    A diabetes rating would not be helpful. Complicated eough as it is.

    If there were to be a diabetes rating, it should be "Diabetic OK"  or "Diabetic   NOT OK"


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    Robert
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 30-04-2021 18:51
    1)       Yes
    2)      Both
    3)      Print is usually very small & hard to find - on the back, left side, right side bottom  - have to search for it  Put it clearly on the front.
    4)      Don't rely on stars as I still have to check the carb rating.
    5)      I don't see that would help when we use different amounts of carb to regulate our diabetes
    6)      I think the info on food now is pretty good once you find it.  GI would be helpful   The size of portions should be more standardised.  Some things go by no of pieces & the next one says 25 g.  Until you get used to a product you then have to weigh & then try to remember how many you can eat for a portion.

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    Noella
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    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 02-05-2021 11:36
    I agree with all the comments regarding labelling, especially David's.
    The only hassle is that it takes longer to shop but it is a worthwhile exercise if we want to be as healthy as possible.
    A rating would not be all that useful but a separate section for DIABETICS .

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    Anne Marie
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    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 04-05-2021 12:31
    Hi All, 

    My husband & I are both Type 2 Diabetics.   He leaves all our shopping needs to me. 
    I do read the labels & compare the units base on 100gms   I wish too it has Diabetes recommendations along side all labels.  I hope this make sense. 

    Cheers

    Lily


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    Lily
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    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 03-05-2021 12:45
    1 - Yes
    2 - Always read new product information, sometimes reread the ones I always buy.
    3 - Too small print and different serve sizes - no 100g metric
    4 - Read the ingredients
    5 - GI number at least
    6 - Current listing is adequate for me.

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    Tones48
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    Original Message


  • 18.  RE: Food labelling - questions from the advocacy team

    Posted 03-05-2021 12:49
    Anther one I noticed this morning Nutritional panel covered by shop stickers eg use by day or price

    Sent from my iPhone


    Original Message


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