What a pack has to say, and what it is merely allowed to say
The mandatory particulars on a UK food pack, in the order worth reading them. Ingredients, percentages, dates, allergens and the nutrition table, and what each can and cannot answer.
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 label · 10 min readWhy ingredients are listed in descending order
How much the order of a UK ingredients list matters: it ranks weight at the time of manufacture, so it is reliable at the top, weak further down, and not a measure of quantity.
The label · 9 min readUse 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 label · 9 min readQUID: why some ingredients carry a percentage and others do not
The quantitative ingredient declaration is the rule that puts a number next to an ingredient. Knowing when it is triggered tells you what to look for.
The label · 9 min readThe back-of-pack nutrition table: what each row is and how it is measured
The mandatory nutrition declaration has a fixed content, a fixed order and a fixed basis. Knowing the structure makes it a comparison tool rather than a wall of numbers.
The label · 9 min readAllergen information on UK packaging: what the law requires
Fourteen allergens must be declared and emphasised. What the rules cover, what changed for food packed on site, and what precautionary wording is.
The label · 10 min readThe same skill on a different pack
Everything on this page rests on one habit: a declared list is read in the order a rule sets, and the rule is almost never printed beside it. A food ingredients list runs in descending order of weight at the time of manufacture, which is why the top of it is informative and the tail of it is not. A cosmetic pack is built the same way and then stops: its INCI list runs in descending order of concentration only down to one per cent, and below that threshold the ingredients may be given in any order, so the lower half of a cosmetic list ranks nothing. A reader who has learnt to weigh a food list has no equivalent for that cut off. For the cosmetics half of the same skill, see Skin Insider on how to read a cosmetic label in order.
The 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.
We use your address for the briefing and nothing else. See privacy and the rate card.