Published · Updated · Sláinte Editorial
Everything on the back of the pack, in the order you should read it.
Almost every pre-packed food sold in Ireland carries the same set of information, in the same units, because EU food information law requires it. Once you know which parts are legally defined and which parts are marketing, the back of the pack becomes the most useful thing in the shop.
This guide walks through the label from top to bottom, with real figures taken from products in the Sláinte database, and shows where labels are precise, where they are vague by design, and where two products that look identical are not.
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers sets the rules that apply in Ireland. For pre-packed food it makes a nutrition declaration mandatory, and it fixes both the nutrients that must appear and the order they appear in. That is why labels from different countries and different brands are comparable at all.
The mandatory declaration is exactly seven lines, always in this order:
These figures must be given per 100 g or per 100 ml. Anything else (a per-portion column, fibre, individual vitamins and minerals, mono-unsaturates, polyols, starch) is voluntary. Manufacturers add those lines when they help sell the product, which is a useful signal in itself. Fibre is the clearest example: it is optional, so a product that declares its fibre content usually has fibre worth declaring.
The declared values are averages, not measurements of the pack in your hand. They can come from laboratory analysis, from calculation using known ingredient values, or from generally established data. Tolerances are accepted, which is why two batches of the same product can differ slightly, and why treating a single decimal place as precise is a mistake.
| Line | Unit | What it actually measures |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | kJ and kcal | Total energy from fat, carbohydrate, protein, fibre and polyols combined |
| Fat | g | All fats, including the ones considered beneficial |
| of which saturates | g | The fraction most strongly linked to raised LDL cholesterol |
| Carbohydrate | g | Starch and sugars; in the EU, fibre is counted separately |
| of which sugars | g | All mono- and disaccharides, added and naturally present, indistinguishable here |
| Protein | g | Total nitrogen × 6.25, not protein quality |
| Salt | g | Sodium × 2.5, including sodium that was never table salt |
Fibre, vitamins, minerals, mono-unsaturates, polyols and starch may be added voluntarily, in a fixed position after salt.
Our guide to choosing breakfast cereal brings fibre, sugar, salt, fortification and the amount in your bowl into the same comparison.
Portion sizes on packs are chosen by the manufacturer, not by law. A cereal portion is typically declared as 30 g or 40 g, a portion of crisps as 25 g or 30 g, a portion of spread as 15 g. None of those numbers describe what people actually pour or spread, and none of them are comparable between brands.
The per 100 g column is fixed, so it is the one to use. Two breakfast cereals from the Sláinte database show what that reveals. Both are eaten from a bowl with milk, both are marketed to families, and both are wheat or rice based.
Weetabix
60/ 100Good
Wholegrain first at 95%, double-digit fibre and sugars under 5 g per 100 g. Sugar appears third, but in a small enough share that it barely moves the profile.
Kellogg's
47/ 100Poor
Four times the sugars, roughly a third of the fibre and half the protein of the wholegrain option, with almost the same energy. Same shelf, same aisle, very different label.
Where a pack shows percentages, they are almost always percentages of the EU reference intakes for an average adult. Those values are set in the regulation and are the same on every pack, regardless of who is eating it:
| Nutrient | Reference intake | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 8 400 kJ / 2 000 kcal | A single average figure, not a personal requirement |
| Total fat | 70 g | Includes the fats in fish, nuts and olive oil |
| Saturates | 20 g | Reached quickly by pastry, chocolate and processed meat |
| Carbohydrate | 260 g | Starch plus sugars combined |
| Sugars | 90 g | Higher than most public-health advice on free sugars |
| Protein | 50 g | Comfortably met by most Irish diets without supplements |
| Salt | 6 g | The FSAI advises adults aim for less than this |
Sláinte shows reference intakes as context only. They are never used to calculate a score, because they describe an average adult rather than the person holding the pack.
Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight at the time of manufacture. The list is therefore a rough recipe: whatever is first is the largest single component. It is the fastest read on any pack, and it is often more revealing than the numbers.
Two extra rules make it sharper. First, quantitative ingredient declaration, usually called QUID: when an ingredient is emphasised on the pack, pictured on the front or named in the product name, its percentage must be declared. That is why you see "hazelnuts 13%" rather than a vague promise of hazelnuts. Second, the fourteen allergens listed in Annex II of the regulation must be emphasised inside the list itself, typically in bold or capitals, rather than hidden in a separate sentence.
An ingredient made of several ingredients is broken open in brackets. A chocolate chip becomes "sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavouring". This is where sugar frequently appears two or three times on one label under different names (sugar, glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup, dextrose, molasses) each separately ranked, each individually smaller than it would be if combined.
Nutella
26/ 100Poor
The front of the jar sells hazelnuts and milk. The list ranks sugar first and palm oil second, and the QUID rule forces the hazelnut share into print: 13%. More than half the jar by weight is sugars.
EU labels declare salt, not sodium, and the salt figure is calculated as sodium multiplied by 2.5. Sodium from any source counts, including sodium bicarbonate in a raising agent or sodium nitrite in cured meat, so a product can declare salt without a grain of table salt in the recipe.
Crisps are the category where this bites hardest, because the salt sits on the surface and the numbers move a lot between flavours of the same brand.
Keogh's
49/ 100Poor
Real potatoes and a short list still cannot get a fried crisp past the energy and salt density of the category. The score reflects the product, not the provenance.
Tayto
21/ 100Bad
A good illustration of a compound ingredient: one bracket on the label contains eleven separate things, including two sugars and three additives, all of which sit inside a single ranked entry.
Nutrition and health claims are governed by Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. A claim can only be used when the product meets a fixed numerical condition, so the wording is not arbitrary. Knowing the thresholds turns a marketing phrase back into a number.
| Claim on the pack | Legal condition | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Low fat | 3 g or less per 100 g (1.5 g per 100 ml) | Nothing about sugars, salt or energy |
| Fat free | 0.5 g or less per 100 g | Often a high-sugar sweet or drink |
| Low sugars | 5 g or less per 100 g (2.5 g per 100 ml) | Nothing about sweeteners used instead |
| No added sugars | No added sugars or sweetening ingredients | Naturally present sugars can still be high |
| Low salt | 0.3 g salt or less per 100 g | Nothing about how much of it you eat |
| Source of fibre | At least 3 g per 100 g | Fibre can be added rather than intrinsic |
| High fibre | At least 6 g per 100 g | Same again: added fibre also qualifies |
| Source of protein | At least 12% of energy from protein | Nothing about saturates or sugar alongside it |
| High protein | At least 20% of energy from protein | The most over-read claim in the shop |
| Light or lite | At least 30% less of a nutrient than the reference product | The reference product may itself be poor |
The most common shortcut in food writing is that fewer ingredients means better food. It is often true and easily disproved. Butter, sugar and cream have one-word labels. Fortified wholegrain cereal has a long one because the vitamins and minerals each have to be named.
The most useful version of the rule is narrower: a short list makes a product easy to verify. When the whole label is one ingredient, there is nothing to argue about.
Flahavan's
82/ 100Excellent
The label is one line long, so every number on it is attributable to a single whole grain. High fibre by the legal definition, low sugars, low salt, all three earned by the ingredient rather than by reformulation.
That is most of the product by weight. If a sugar or fat is prominent, the numbers will confirm it.
Use the standardised column so two brands are judged on the same basis, not on serving sizes they chose themselves.
Read them together, then check salt. Products are usually pulled down by a combination rather than one figure alone.
Fibre is optional on the EU declaration, so a manufacturer that states it usually has a useful figure to show.
Sugar, glucose syrup, dextrose and molasses are ranked separately even when they all contribute sweetness.
Once you know the recipe and the figures, you can judge whether the headline claim adds meaningful information.
Use the per 100 g or 100 ml column when comparing two products. It is standardised across EU labels. A serving can help you understand what one stated portion provides, but the manufacturer chooses that portion and competing brands may choose different ones.
EU labels calculate salt as sodium multiplied by 2.5. Sodium from raising agents, preservatives and other ingredients counts too, so the declared salt does not have to come only from table salt.
Recipes, suppliers and pack sizes change, and declared nutrition values are permitted averages rather than a test of every individual pack. Compare the barcode, ingredient list and date of the information before assuming the products are identical.
EU quantitative ingredient declaration rules usually require a percentage when an ingredient appears in the product name, is emphasised in words or pictures, or is essential to distinguish the food. That is why a hazelnut spread states its hazelnut percentage.
No. Claims such as high protein, low fat and source of fibre each have a precise legal condition, but meeting one condition says nothing about every other nutrient or the full ingredient list.
