Reading Food Labels made easy.
Reading Food Labels Made Easy
Reading food labels is like learning another language. At first you feel like it’s this really challenging thing to do but once you learn how easy it is. The key is to know how to read the food labels and understand what they are telling you. You will learn with time what things are – you must put the time into learning.
My personal rule of thumb is that if the word on the ingredients is so long or difficult to pronounce it’s a chemical of some sort and I don’t need that. It’s best to use the rule of thumb:
“When in doubt, leave it out”
First Things First
First things first, how do you read the label? Well, you should know that the list of ingredients is required to be listed in descending order of predominance. The ingredient you have the most of is listed first, then the next most and so on.
For example: Red Licorice (Red Vines)
Ingredients: Corn Syrup, Wheat Four, Citric Acid, Artificial Flavor, Red 40
Allergen Information: Contains Wheat
The ingredients are listed by “weight” from heaviest to lightest. On a side note, you’d think licorice would be all sugar but it’s not!
FDA Labeling Food Allergies
The FDA has a limited list of food allergens that are considered “major” and must be on the label by law here they are:
Milk
Eggs
Fish (all types)
Crustacean shellfish
Tree Nuts
Peanuts
Wheat
Soybeans
The key I want to point out here is that gluten is wheat, barley, and rye (and any cross breeds of those grains) but they aren’t all listed. Only wheat is listed. This can and is problematic. Some of my original research showed that caramel coloring was wheat based; now it’s showing more barley. This is still a food allergen but one that does NOT have to legally be reported because barely is not on that list.
For example: Malt is made from barley. So, let’s take Malted Milk Balls.
As you see there is “Barley Malt” listed but where it needs to list allergies “Contains: Milk, Wheat, and Soy” you see that barley is NOT listed. This is a problem because people who have celiac or a gluten allergy and see something “gluten free” or better yet a friend or family member who is trying to cook for someone with such an allergy just doesn’t know because the label says, “gluten free”.
Gluten-Free or Not
Food items can be listed as “gluten-free” and still have gluten in it. You go to any forums or posting boards for gluten-free eating people will argue that they cannot do that. They can because wheat is the only one by law that must be flagged.
The other thing to be aware of, per Section 6 Ingredients Lists, covers several things that would shock you.
“If an ingredient is present at an incidental level and has no functional or technical effect in the finished product, then it need not be declared on the label. …. Note that major food allergens regardless of whether they are present in the food in trace amounts, must be declared”.
Which means barley and rye do not have to be listed. You can always learn more about food labeling if you visit the FDA’s website.
To eat bread or not
I know that reading labels can be challenging. Do not let it overwhelm you. It will be challenging to start, but when you learn what and where gluten can hide, you will feel so much better. Feel free to comment or drop me an email and I’d be happy to try to help you out.