Posts Tagged “food labels”

As a communicator, I find food labels intriguing. When you get right down to it, they’re pretty neat bits of writing.

Within a few square inches (or centimetres, if you will), food manufacturers must include information such as the product’s name, a list of ingredients, country of origin, company contact information, and basic nutritional information. And to top it all off, the label has to be designed in a way that compels a shopper to pick the product off the grocery store shelf.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room for improvement.

Here are a few of my food labelling pet peeves:

Best before date
I’m a stickler for best before dates. So does 10JAN09 mean January 10, 2009 or January 9, 2010? Canadians and Americans prefer different date formats, so this may be reflected in the labelling. What’s equally frustrating is that sometimes the date isn’t described at all, so you’re left guessing whether it’s a best before or an expiry date.

“May contain” or “and/or”
How is it a product “may” contain something? Why are manufacturers allowed to waffle on ingredients?

“Low in fat”
This is often just another way to disguise the fact that the product is loaded with sugar. I’ve seen this on marshmallow bags.

0 Trans Fats!
Yet, I find hydrogenated oils in the list of ingredients, which are notorious for containing trans fats. Turns out that if a product contains less than 0.5 g of trans fats per serving (per FDA guidelines), the product’s trans fats are listed as 0.

“Imported by”
I have a big problem with this one because I’d like to know which country this food is being imported from. This labelling just tells you who imported it.

“Product of “
Thank goodness the Canadian government has addressed this one. Used to be if 51% of a food product’s production costs were incurred in Canada, it could be labelled “Product of Canada”. So Sun-Rype’s apple juice could be a “Product of Canada” even if the apples came from Washington State (not that there’s anything wrong with WA apples).

And perhaps my biggest pet peeve is what’s not on the label. When you open a package, jar, or bottle, how long can you keep the product on the shelf or in the fridge before it should be tossed? Some manufacturers include “Best consumed within x days after opening”, and hats off to them. The reason this one bothers me so much is that there are plenty of foods that can spoil without evidence of spoilage (such as smell, taste, appearance of molds, etc.).

So the next time you’re grocery shopping, take some time to read the food labels. What bothers you?