Nutrition Last reviewed 12 August 2026
How to read a nutrition label in ten seconds
The lines that matter, the one that is routinely misread, and the two letters on a supplement label that tell you how much to trust it.
Two columns, and only one of them compares
The Nutrition Information Panel on an Australian label carries two columns: per serve and per 100g. Compare products on the per-100g column, always. It is the only one that is like for like, and it is on the panel precisely so you can.
The per-serve column is useful for one thing: finding out what the manufacturer considers a serve. Unlike the panel itself, that figure is chosen by the company, and it is frequently smaller than the amount a person eats in one sitting. The panel also tells you how many serves are in the pack, which is the number that catches people out.
The order to read them in
- Serving size and serves per pack, so you know what the first column describes.
- Energy per 100g, as your rough anchor.
- The one nutrient you actually care about for this purchase - protein, fibre, sodium, sugars.
- The ingredients list, which is ordered by weight, heaviest first. The first three ingredients are most of the product.
Ten seconds, in that order, tells you more than a minute spent on the front of the pack.
The percentages on the front
Some packs carry a %DI figure - percentage of daily intake - on the front. It is voluntary, it is calculated against an average adult who is not you, and it is expressed per serve, which takes you straight back to who chose the serve size.
Treat it as a way of sorting a shelf quickly rather than as a target. The per-100g column and the ingredients list will always tell you more.
Why the front and the back disagree
They are two different things. The table on the back is a mandatory disclosure. The words on the front are marketing, and only some of them are regulated.
Nutrition and health claims on Australian food labels are regulated, and the useful part is that they come in tiers. A nutrition content claim - "high in fibre", "low fat" - has to meet a defined criterion. A general level health claim links a nutrient to a health effect and has to be based on a food-health relationship that is either pre-approved or self-substantiated and notified. A high level health claim - one that mentions a serious disease - may only use a pre-approved relationship, and there are not many of them.
What that means at the shelf: the bigger the claim, the higher the bar it had to clear. A vague one has usually cleared the lowest bar available.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand publishes the code and the permitted relationships, which turns "is this claim real?" from an opinion into a lookup.
The letters on a supplement
A supplement sold in Australia carries either an AUST L or an AUST R number, and the difference is the single most useful thing on the tub.
AUST L means listed. The ingredients are from a permitted list and the sponsor has certified their own claims. Nobody assessed whether it works before it went on sale. AUST R means registered, which involves an assessment of efficacy as well as safety, and almost nothing on a supplement shelf carries one.
So the number is the manufacturer telling you which kind of product you are holding. The TGA explains what each one covers.
What a label may not do
It may not claim to prevent, treat or cure a disease. If a food product appears to be doing that, the interesting question is not whether it works - it is why the claim is on the packet at all.
What to ignore
The front of the pack, mostly. "Natural", "wholesome", "artisan" and "made with real fruit" are not defined terms and carry no test. The panel and the ingredients list are the regulated part; everything above them is design.
The limits of this piece
Settled enough to state
How the Nutrition Information Panel is structured, why the per-100g column is the one that compares, and that claims on the front are regulated in tiers.
Depends on you
Which products are right for you. A label describes a food; it does not know your diet, your budget or your kitchen.
Not something a webpage can answer
Whether a specific product is healthy. That is a judgement about a whole diet, not a reading of one panel.
Corrections and clarifications are published here, dated. There are none on this page. Write to contact@nouraro.com if something is wrong.
