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Reading a grocery label: the four numbers that matter
The front of a pack is designed to be read from a metre away and to make one point. The back is a legal document, and it is where the actual information lives. You do not need to study it for every item — you need four numbers, all of which are on the back or the shelf edge, and about eight seconds.
The front of the pack is an advertisement. The back of the pack is the specification. Compare specifications and almost every marketing claim stops mattering.
Number one: price per kilo, not price per pack
This is the one that saves real money, and it is printed in small type on the shelf label rather than the pack. Pack sizes are deliberately non-comparable — 380 g against 500 g, 750 ml against a litre — because a shopper comparing pack prices is comparing nothing. Price per kilo or per litre is the only figure that lets two products be weighed against each other, and the bigger pack is not automatically cheaper. Multipacks of the same item are frequently more expensive per unit than the single, and a promotion often just restores the normal price.
Number two: the first three ingredients
Ingredients are listed by descending weight, always, by law. So the first three tell you what the product mostly is, and everything after them is present in small amounts. Granola whose first ingredient is oats is a different product from granola whose first ingredient is sugar or syrup, whatever the front says about wholegrain. Our own set yoghurt lists two things, milk and cultures, and nothing else — which is the shape you want.
Two things worth knowing while you are there. If an ingredient appears in the product name, its percentage must be stated — so a “fruit yoghurt” will tell you it is 6 per cent fruit. And sugar has many names: syrup, molasses, dextrose, maltodextrin, fruit juice concentrate. Splitting sweeteners across several names pushes each one further down the list without reducing the total.
Numbers three and four: sugar and salt per 100 g
Always read per 100 g, never per portion. Portion sizes are chosen by the manufacturer and are frequently smaller than anyone eats, which quietly halves every number in the column beside them. Per 100 g is the standardised figure, and it is the only one that lets you hold two packs side by side.
The thresholds are worth memorising because they never change. Sugar: more than 22.5 g per 100 g is high, under 5 g is low. Salt: more than 1.5 g per 100 g is high, under 0.3 g is low. Note that salt and sodium are not the same number — multiply sodium by 2.5 to get salt. And the sugar line includes naturally occurring sugars, so plain milk and unsweetened fruit look higher than you would expect. That is why the ingredient list and the nutrition panel have to be read together.
Tells you something
- Price per kilo or litre on the shelf edge.
- The first three ingredients.
- Sugar and salt per 100 g, against the high and low thresholds.
- The percentage of any ingredient named on the front.
- "Use by" on chilled and raw food — this one is about safety.
Tells you nothing
- "Natural", "artisan", "farmhouse", "premium" — none are legally defined.
- "No added sugar" on a product full of fruit juice concentrate.
- "Light" or "lite", which may refer to colour or texture rather than calories.
- "Made with real fruit" without a stated percentage.
- A large front-of-pack claim about one vitamin.
- Ingredients are in descending order of weight — the first three define the product.
- A named ingredient must carry its percentage: "with mature cheddar" tells you how much.
- Allergens are printed in bold within the list, not only in a separate warning box.
- "May contain" is a voluntary statement about cross-contamination, not a listed ingredient.
- Additives are labelled by function plus a name or E number: "preservative: sodium nitrite".
“Use by” is a safety date and applies to chilled and raw foods: do not eat past it. “Best before” is a quality date, and dry goods, tinned food and most ambient products are perfectly safe well beyond it — they simply lose their best texture or flavour. Confusing the two is responsible for an enormous amount of avoidable waste. Eggs are the exception worth learning: they carry a best-before date, but cook them thoroughly after it.
Country of origin is mandatory for fresh meat, fish, honey, olive oil, and fruit and vegetables. For processed food it usually is not, which is why “packed in” is not the same as “from”. If origin matters to you, look for the specific country rather than a regional or EU-wide statement, which can cover a very large area.
Net weight is the food; drained weight, which appears on tins and jars, is the food without the liquid. On a tin of beans the difference can be a third of the pack. Compare drained weights when you are comparing tins, and note that the letter e beside a weight means it is an average across a batch, not a guaranteed minimum for your pack.
Label questions
Every number, on every product page
We publish net weight, origin, storage class and the full ingredient panel online, so you can compare before the basket rather than at the shelf.
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