Reading food labels like a pro

Food labels look technical, but you only need a few skills to read them in seconds: the traffic lights, the ingredients list, and the difference between 'per 100g' and 'per portion'.

Front-of-pack traffic lights

• Many UK-style packs show fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt in colours: red means high, amber means medium, green means low.
• A food with mostly green and amber is a good everyday choice. Lots of red suggests a 'sometimes' food.
• Labels often also show energy and a percentage of 'reference intake', which is a rough guide to the amount of a nutrient in a typical adult diet. It is not a personal target.
• Different criteria apply to drinks, so do not compare a drink's colours directly to a food's.

The 'high' and 'low' numbers per 100g

• Total fat: high is more than 17.5g per 100g; low is 3g or less.
• Saturated fat: high is more than 5g per 100g; low is 1.5g or less.
• Sugars: high is more than 22.5g per 100g; low is 5g or less.
• Salt: high is more than 1.5g per 100g (0.6g sodium); low is 0.3g or less (0.1g sodium).
• Fibre: a food is high in fibre with 6g or more per 100g.
• Anything between high and low is medium. Save a photo of these numbers on your phone for shopping.

Per 100g versus per portion

• Per 100g (or 100ml) figures let you compare two products fairly, for example two brands of granola.
• Per portion figures tell you what is in a serving, but the manufacturer's idea of a portion may be smaller or larger than what you actually eat.
• If you eat twice the stated portion, you get twice the sugar, salt and fat shown per portion.
• Sugars on the label means total sugars, which includes natural sugars from milk and fruit, so read the ingredients too.

The ingredients list

• Ingredients are listed in order of weight, largest first. If sugar, cream, butter or oil appears in the first few, the food is likely high in it.
• Allergens are shown in bold, which is essential if you or a friend has an allergy.
• Look for hidden sugar names: honey, glucose, maltose, syrups and nectars.
• 'Hydrogenated vegetable oil' means trans fat, which raises cholesterol.

Labels in the UAE: Nutri-Mark

• In 2025 the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council approved Nutri-Mark, a front-of-pack label that grades products from A (dark green, highest nutritional quality) to E (red, lowest).
• The grade is based on total and saturated fat, carbohydrates and sugars, protein and fibre, salt and energy.
• In 2026 a digital version launched: at some major UAE supermarkets you can scan a Nutri-Mark QR code using the TAMM app.
• Nutri-Mark was reported as voluntary in 2026, so many products, especially imports, will not carry it. When it is missing, use the per 100g figures instead.