- Useful for comparing and choosing products:
- If you have an allergy or health condition that requires you to check everything you eat
- For children:
- What is on the label
- Language, math and arts skills
- NOT about choosing only the healthiest option
Food labels can be used to compare one product to another and identify whether a food has a little or a lot of a certain nutrient. Food labels should not be used for meal planning purposes. Teaching children about food labels can help increase awareness of what is in our foods, especially those that are processed. It can also be a great tool to teach math and language. We do not recommend to use food labels to classify foods as “healthy” or “unhealthy” as this can prevent children from enjoying a variety of foods.
As mentioned in the previous slide, it is important to move people from relying on highly processed foods to cooking more at home. Foods that require a food label have been processed, as such teaching students to use foods labels to help them choose foods can sometimes give the illusion that highly processed foods are healthy. Therefore, food labels should be introduced as a tool that helps consumers understand what is in their foods (too little or a lot of a certain nutrient) and compare between two products
Learn more about Nutrition Labelling: https://www.canada.ca