How to read an ingredients list, and why the order matters

Ingredients on UK prepacked food are listed in descending order of weight, as weighed when they went into the mix. The first ingredient is the biggest, so the first three tell you most of what you are eating. Anything under 2 per cent of the finished food can be listed in any order at the end.

That one rule makes the list the most honest panel on the pack. The front is chosen to sell. The list is set out by law, in an order the manufacturer doesn’t get to pick.

Why does the order of ingredients matter?

Because it is a ranking by weight. Under UK labelling law the list has to include every ingredient, in descending order of weight as recorded at the time of their use in making the food. A cereal bar that starts oats, glucose syrup, sugar has more oats than anything else, then more glucose syrup than sugar.

A few details change how you read it. Added water is listed by its weight in the finished product, and it can be left out of the ranking if it is no more than 5 per cent of that product. Ingredients used in a concentrated or dried form and made back up during manufacture may be listed by their weight before concentration. And once you reach the ingredients that make up less than 2 per cent, the ranking stops; they can come in any order after the rest.

What does the percentage next to an ingredient mean?

It’s how much of that ingredient went in, as a share of the recipe at the time of use. The law requires it when the ingredient appears in the name of the food, is emphasised on the label in words, pictures or graphics, or is essential to tell the food apart from things it might be confused with.

The percentage goes in or next to the name of the food, or beside the ingredient in the list. This is the number that tests the photograph on the front. A pot sold on the fruit in it will tell you how much fruit that is. There are narrow exceptions, such as an ingredient used in small amounts for flavour, so a missing percentage is worth noticing rather than proof of anything.

How do you spot sugar in an ingredients list?

Look near the top and count the names. If sugar is near the top of the list, the food is likely to be high in free sugars. The trickier case is when sugar comes in several forms. Each one is a separate ingredient and takes its own place by weight, so three sugars can each sit in the middle of the list and still add up to more than the ingredient at the top.

These are the names on the NHS’s list of words used for sugars added to food and drink:

• cane sugar, brown sugar, crystalline sucrose, sucrose
• glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose
• corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup
• honey, molasses, treacle, nectars such as blossom
• fruit juice concentrate and fruit purée

The sugars figure on the nutrition panel includes the natural sugars in milk and fruit as well, so it won’t tell you how much of the sugar is free sugar. The list is where you see whether any was added.

Why are some ingredients in bold?

They are allergens. UK law lists 14 allergens, from cereals containing gluten to molluscs, and where one is in a prepacked food it must be named in the ingredients list and emphasised with a typeset that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the list, for example by font, style or background colour. Bold is the usual choice. If you or someone you cook for has an allergy, the bold words are the ones to read every time, because recipes change.

What do E numbers and words like emulsifier mean?

They tell you what an additive is there to do. Additives in certain categories have to be listed by the name of that category, followed by their specific name or E number. That is why you see a word such as emulsifier or preservative first, with the name or the number after it.

An additive is only approved in the UK after a safety assessment, when there is a technological need for it, and when using it doesn’t mislead the consumer. Whether some additives affect the gut is still being researched and isn’t settled, so I’d use the additives in a list as a clue to how processed a food is rather than as a verdict on your health. How to spot ultra processed food goes further into that.

Why do some foods have no ingredients list?

Because the law exempts them. You won’t find a list on fresh fruit and vegetables that haven’t been peeled or cut, on a food made of one ingredient whose name says what it is, or on cheese, butter, cream and fermented milk that contain nothing beyond what is needed to make them. A pot of plain yoghurt with nothing added to the milk and cultures can come with no list at all, which tells you something in itself.

How do you read a list in ten seconds?

Read the list before the claims, because the claims are the part someone chose. The front of pack phrases that mean less than you think covers the other side of the packet, and the nutrition panel’s colours are explained in the traffic light label explained. If you want to try it against real claims, the label test has six of them.