Every word on a pack was chosen by someone
Feedworthy is a consumer publication about the food system as an information problem. Not recipes, not restaurant reviews, not nutrition advice. How food is labelled, marketed, regulated, ranked, priced and sold, and what a shopper can actually rely on.
What the label is allowed to say
Every article carries a shelf edge block. It takes a phrase in the style of one found on a shelf, states whether it is defined in law, defined by a scheme or purely marketing, names who defines it, and says what it therefore does and does not tell you. Here is one.
Six places where the information you get is decided for you
The label
What a pack has to say, and what it is merely allowed to say
Open the section02Claims and wording
The words that carry a threshold, and the words that carry an association
Open the section03Schemes and marks
Logos, certificates and ratings, and who stands behind each one
Open the section04Price and the shelf
The shelf is a plan, and the price is a presentation
Open the section05Supply and traceability
One step back, one step forward, and everything that depends on it
Open the section06Presentation and ranking
Who decides what you see, and in what order
Open the sectionWhere to start
How to read a UK food label, and the order to read it in
A food pack is not one document but several, written under different rules. The order to read them in, and which parts are required by law.
The labelHow a health claim gets authorised, and why most marketing phrases are not claims
Nutrition and health claims sit inside a closed authorisation system. Most front-of-pack wording sits outside it, which changes what it can be held to.
Claims and wordingUnit pricing: the most useful number on a shelf edge
The unit price is the one figure on a shelf label designed to be compared. Why it exists, where it is printed, and where it stops working.
Price and the shelfWhat organic means in UK law, and what certification actually checks
Organic is a legally protected term in the UK, tied to certification by an approved control body. What the certification covers, and what the code on the pack tells you.
Schemes and marksTraceability in UK food law: one step back, one step forward
Food traceability law requires each business to know its immediate supplier and immediate customer. What that achieves, and where the chain gets thin.
Supply and traceabilityHow food delivery platforms rank restaurants, and what that ranking is
A delivery app's list is an ordering produced by a system with commercial inputs. What determines position, and what the law requires to be disclosed.
Presentation and rankingUse by and best before: one is a safety instruction, the other is not
The two date marks on UK food packs answer different questions. One is about safety and is legally binding on sellers. The other is about quality.
The labelWhat natural means on a food label in the UK
Natural has no general statutory definition in UK food law. What it does have is guidance criteria, and a general rule against misleading consumers.
Claims and wordingRecalls, withdrawals and alerts: how a product comes off the shelf
A withdrawal removes product from the supply chain. A recall asks consumers to return it. The alerts published by the regulator are the visible part.
Supply and traceabilityThe Feedworthy briefing
One email a fortnight. What changed in food labelling, claims and pricing rules, and one pack phrase taken apart. A sponsor line is carried at the foot of each issue and is labelled as such. It cannot influence a legal status verdict, and the rate card says so in writing.
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