How to read a food label (without losing your mind)

Flipping a package over to read the label sounds easy. Then come the codes, the percentages and an ingredient list as long as the receipt. Here’s how to find your way in seconds.

Ingredient order matters

Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight: the first is the most present, the last the least. If sugar sits in the top three of a product that shouldn’t be sweet, that’s a signal worth noticing.

Watch for sugar’s “other names”

Glucose syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, concentrated grape juice: all sugar under other names. Splitting them into several entries pushes each one down the list, even if together they add up to a lot.

Nutrition facts per 100 g

The nutrition table is almost always given per 100 g or 100 ml. Handy for comparing two similar products, but also check the real serving: 100 g of a spread is not a teaspoon.

Allergens stand out

By law, allergens (gluten, nuts, soy, milk and the rest) are shown in bold or capitals in the ingredient list. If you have a specific need, that’s the first thing to check — and it’s worth re-reading the label every time you buy, because recipes change.

E numbers aren’t all the same

The “E” followed by a number means an additive authorized in the EU. It isn’t automatically a bad thing: some are natural substances (E300 is vitamin C). For a closer look, we broke down a very common one, E471 (mono- and diglycerides). Making sense of them all, though, means looking each one up — exactly the kind of tedious work Crispl does for you.

In short

• Look at the first 3 ingredients
• Count the hidden sugars under different names
• Compare values per 100 g
• Check the bold allergens every time

Labels aren’t built to be clear. But with a method (or an app that applies it for you) a few seconds are enough. And for a concrete example of choosing well among packaged foods, see our guide on the Mediterranean diet and packaged foods.