Healthy Eating
Making Healthier Eating Choices at Home, at the Store and Eating Out
Healthy Eating & Fitness Tips for Pregnant Women
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Healthy Eating and Women
Healthy Eating
Reading Food Labels
Reading labels can help you make good food choices. Review the additives in processed and packaged foods and drinks,. You will find them in cans, boxes, bottles, jars, and bags, There is nutrition and food safety information on their labels or packaging, look for these things on the food label before you make a purchase.
Product Dates:
You might see one of three types of product dates on some foods you buy:
- “Sell by” tells how long the store can sell foods like meat, poultry, eggs, or milk products, buy it before this date
- “Use by” tells how long the food will be at peak quality. If you buy or use it after that date, some foods might not be safe any longer
- “Best if used by” or “best if used before” tells how long the food has the best flavor or quality, it is not a purchase or safety date
Ingredients List
This tells you everything that a processed food contains. Did you know that the items are presented from largest to the smallest ingredient. That is, there is more of the first ingredient listed on the label than any other ingredient in the product. The last ingredient on the list is found in the smallest amount.
Nutrition Facts Label
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires a Nutrition Facts label on all processed food. If you require additional information for a product, you can call the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Information Center at 1-301-504-5414.
The Nutrition Facts label is all white with black letters. You can see a sample label at right, along with a few key things to know about it.
To learn more about the information on this label, go to the FDA’s website, search “labeling and nutrition,” and choose a “Nutrition Facts Label Programs and Materials.”
The FDA recently announced updates to the Nutrition Facts label to reflect the latest scientific information linking diet and chronic diseases like obesity and heart disease. Updates include a new design that highlights key parts of the label such as calories and serving sizes.
