What are Margarine and Spreads?
What does a label show?
Labels on food are a valuable way of understanding exactly what we are eating. The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 define the information that manufacturers/retailers are required to display on a food product label. There are also rules about what they cannot put on a label.
By law, the information on spread labels must include the following:
- The name of the product, which must tell consumers what the product is
- A list of all ingredients, placed in descending order of weight
- Storage instructions, which give details of the best conditions in which to keep the margarine or spread to prevent spoilage and an indication as to whether the product is suitable for home freezing
- An indication of how long the margarine or spread will stay fresh. There are two ways of marking this information either by using a "use by" date or a "best before" date
- The weight of the product. The average system of quantity control is mainly for pre-packed goods and is indicated next to the weight declaration on the pack by the symbol "e"
- The name and address of the producer or, in the case of "own label" products, the retailer, so that the consumer can contact them if there is a problem.
- Manufacturers may also decide to provide the following additional information:
- Bar Codes - stores information e.g. price and description of product, can be read with a scanner.
- Lot or Batch Mark - used to identify each stage of the food product production process. Records details such as the date of production, production line and the packaging system. Can be used by manufacturers to trace the production process back to raw ingredients.
- Special information - additional words or symbols may appear on the label e.g. "Suitable for vegetarians" or "suitable for home freezing".
- Nutrition Labelling - Nutrition labelling is voluntary, however, if a claim is made nutrition information must be given. The spreads industry is keen to inform consumers and therefore labels will typically include the following details:
- Energy
- Protein
- Carbohydrate (of which sugars)
- Sodium
- Salt
- Fibre
- Fat (of which saturates)
Other information
Recently, additional information panels have been added to packaging in an attempt to make it easier for the public to understand what's in their food and how healthy it is for them. There are two types of additional information panels - traffic lights and GDAs (Guideline Daily Amounts). Different foods in different shops are using one or both of these labels.
The label may also include information on the proportion of your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of minerals or vitamins. RDAs are laid down in the Food Labelling Regulations. The use of claims of any description are very strictly governed by law.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) came up with traffic light labeling to try and make it easy to work out which foods we should limit in our diets.
Four nutrients, which can potentially be harmful if eaten in large quantities - fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt - are each allocated a colour according to how much is in the food.
The FSA says that...
- Red indicates that the food contains a lot and should be avoided
- Amber is medium and an OK choice most of the time
- Green is low and is the healthiest choice
Although this visual guide appears to be helpful and straightforward, many food experts believe it is flawed and does not help the public to make healthy decisions.
One issue with the scheme is that all calculations are worked out on a 100g/ml portion, whereas for some foods, like spreads, the typical intake may only be one tenth of that per serving. This means that most margarines and spreads receive a red on the label for fat and saturated fat, suggesting that it is potentially harmful to health. In actual fact, enough spread for 1-2 slices of bread can contribute as little as 4% (see ref pg for calculation) to the daily allowance for saturated fat. This is well within the recommended guideline daily intake for saturated fat of 20 grams for women and 30 grams for men.
Finally, this over-simplified system does not help people to choose healthier options within food groups. For instance, both butter and spreads receive red symbols on packaging, yet spreads have a much lower fat content than butter and all brands are between 25% and 83% lower in saturated fat. Margarines and spreads also contain essential fatty acids and vitamins A, D and E, but none of these benefits are distinguished on the label.
The alternative to traffic light labeling is Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling. This system takes the same nutrient groups and highlights on the label what percentage of your guideline daily amount is in a portion of the food. Presented this way you can asses your whole diet in context and compare and contrast different products. For instance, you have two jars of pasta sauce in your hands in the supermarket. By comparing the labels, it's easy to see which one contains the least salt in order to help you make your choice. You also know that the sauce you choose may contain 10% of your daily salt allowance per serving, so that means the other foods you eat during the day need to add up to less than 90%.
Using a GDA label is a more practical approach to providing people with the nutritional information they need. Each label shows how much is in a portion rather than how much is in the whole pack. For spreads, for instance, the GDA label shows how much fat and saturated fat is in a portion, rather than the entire tub.
