page_title: Nutrition facts label
section_title: European Union
hierarchical_section_title: Nutrition facts label / European Union
context_page_description: The nutrition facts label is a label required on most packaged food in many countries, showing what nutrients are in the food. Labels are usually based on official nutritional rating systems. Most countries also release overall nutrition guides for general educational purposes. In some cases, the guides are based on different dietary targets for various nutrients than the labels on specific foods.
  Nutrition facts labels are one of many types of food labels required by regulation or applied by manufacturers.
context_section_description: It was regulated by the Commission Directive 2008/100/EC of 28 October 2008 amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs as regards recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and definitions. A new regulation is now in force (Regulation 1169/2011). Nutritional labelling becomes mandatory for most pre-packaged foods as from December 2016.
  In the European Union, along the "old" rules (Directive 90/496, amended), the information (usually in panel format) is most often labelled "Nutrition Information" (or equivalent in other EU languages). An example is shown on the right. The panel is optional, but if provided, the prescribed content and format must be followed. It will always give values for a set quantity — 100 g (3.5 oz) or 100 ml (3.5 imp fl oz; 3.4 US fl oz) of the product — and often also for a defined "serving", as an option. First will come the energy values, in both kilocalories and kilojoules.
  Then will come a breakdown of constituent elements: usually most or all of protein, carbohydrate, starch, sugar, fat, fibre and sodium. The "fat" figure is likely to be further broken down into saturated and unsaturated fat, while the "carbohydrate" figure is likely to give a subtotal for sugars. With the "new" rules, the mandatory information is: energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and salt, in that particular order, with options to extend this list to: mono-unsaturates, polyunsaturates, polyols, starch, fibre, and vitamins and minerals.
  With regards to health claims and nutrition (composition) claims, these are harmonised in the EU through Regulation 1924/2006, amended. In November 2012, the European Commission published two new regulations: Regulation (EC) No. 1047/2012 and Regulation (EC) No.1048/2012.
  Certain nutrition claim groups as of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 had to be changed. Moreover, the health claims associated to barley beta-gluten were amended (e.g. lowering  blood cholesterol).
  Within Regulation 1924, there are legal definitions of terms such as "low fat", "high fibre", "reduced calories".
  All health claims have been harmonised in the European Union. They can be used if they have been approved by EFSA. The list of approved and rejected claims is available on a web site.
  Provided the full nutrition information is shown on the packet, additional nutritional information and formats (e.g. a traffic light rating system) may be included and this falls outside the scope of regulation.
  The United Kingdom regulations are given in Schedules 6 and 7 of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996.
caption: A UK nutrition information label, for low-fat yoghurt. A key difference from US labelling is that it always gives values for a set quantity (100 ml or - like here - 100 g), allowing easy comparison between products. Also, fibre is not considered a type of carbohydrate
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