Food labelling is a confusing business. We've got nutritionist Suzannah Olivier to help you get to the bottom of what's written on the packaging

• Traffic light labelling
• GDA (guideline daily amounts)
• No added sugar or unsweetened
• Fresh, pure, natural, farmhouse, traditional, style, handmade, premium, finest, best, quality, selected, local, seasonal, farmer's market
• Light or lite
• Flavour
• Red Tractor, and other Assured Food Standards
• Barn laid, farm fresh, free range
• Organic
• Vegetarian

Traffic light labelling
Good or bad?: Most authorities agree this latest system is the best way of easily working out the merits or demerits of a packaged food.
What it means: Promoted by the Food standards agency it tells you at a glance if a product is high, mid or low in overall fat, saturated fat, added sugars or salt. This is the easiest way of comparing products at a glance, so for two sandwiches side by side in the chill cabinet, you might choose the one with the most green or amber lights and avoid the one with the most red lights.

GDA (guideline daily amounts)
Good or bad?: Probably more people will find this system less easy to interpret than the traffic light system.
What it means: Serves the same purpose as the traffic light system, but designed by a group of food manufacturers and retailers and the suspicion is that it suits their purposes rather than truly being helpful. Many authorities argue that it is less user friendly and deliberately designed to confuse.

No added sugar or unsweetened
Good or bad?: Good... or could be bad!
What it means: In theory no added sugar is a good thing. But the manufacturer can use fruit juices to add sweetness which can amount to the same thing as adding sugar. This statement also often means, particularly with cordials and drinks, that artificial sweeteners have been added, so you then need to check the back for ingredients such as Aspartame? or saccharine.

Food labelling continued...

Fresh, pure, natural etc
Good or bad?: Mostly meaningless
What it means: The Food Standards Authority has found that guidelines issued previously are being ignored and claims are often misleading.

Light,lite
Good or bad?:Meaningless
What it means: The law does not define these terms. Gives the impression that the product, such as crisps or biscuits, is lower in calories but if compared to a non-light product from another manufacturer could easily be just as calorific. Always compare values per 100g.

'Flavour' for instance Strawberry flavour
Good or bad?: Bad
What it means: Artifical flavourings are cheap and synthetic and are just labelled 'flavouring'. If a package says 'natural flavouring' it must not be synthetic, but the flavouring may be nothing to do with the flavour you think you are buying (and could, for instance, come from wood chips or animal carcasses). If a food says, for instance, strawberry flavour then the flavour must come from the strawberry but it can so highly processed that no food goodness, such as vitamins, are still in the food.
Red Tractor, and other Assured Food Standards

Good or bad?: Could be good, but often of questionable value.
What it means: Means that the food is produced to a standard set by a body of food producers, monitored by the FSA, but while comforting, the consumer may attribute meaning that isn't there. For instance a consumer might think it means better animal welfare while battery techniques are still used, or that pesticides are not used when they are.

Barn laid, farm fresh, free range
Good or bad: Displayed on egg boxes and often not what the consumer thinks.
What it means?: Farm fresh means nothing. Barn laid means birds are not caged but density levels are still extremely high - around 100 hens on the size of a double bed - and they still cooped up their whole lives. Free range can mean just the same as barn laid but with the doors thrown open for a while during the day, but chickens do not stray very far. The highest welfare standards are for organic reared birds.

Organic
Good or bad?: Good, it is a strictly controlled system of food production.
What it means: Even if a consumer is not a supporter of organic food in principle, at least they can find out exactly what is meant by organic food production, and what is not, as the description is governed by strict criteria. Organic labelling must carry a number attributed to the particular certification body (such as the Soil Association).

Vegetarian
Good or bad?: Good as it is a strictly controlled set of criteria.
What it means:Does not have to be approved by the Vegetarian society to be vegetarian but if it is the product will carry their logo. The product must have no ingredients of animal origin, apart from vegetarian dairy products, to make this claim.