You can find the list of ingredients on food labels. If you read the label, you will know what is in the food. Pay attention to the order: The ingredients of the highest amount are listed first.
Some ingredients can trigger allergies. These substances are called allergens. The 14 most important allergens are also on the list of ingredients. They are highlighted in bold.
Sometimes, production companies cannot avoid allergens. In this case, there is a warning on the label. For example: “May contain traces of milk”.
On the food packaging, you will also find information about the 7 most important nutrients. The label says:
The term “thereof sugar” includes all types of sugar. It does not matter whether the sugar was added, or whether it is naturally contained in a food as in fruit. Carbohydrates also include polysaccharides. For example, starch.
Vitamins and minerals are included on the food packaging if the food contains a lot of them. The label shows the recommended daily intake. This means, for example, that you should consume a certain amount of a vitamin per day. The label tells you how much of that is in a product.
Sugar
Some products are labelled “no added sugar”. But they might still contain sweet ingredients. You cannot always tell at first sight what the producers use to sweeten a product.
Even if the word "sugar" is not on the list of ingredients, there might be many sugar-like ingredients. For example:
- table sugar, cane sugar or beet sugar
- glucose or dextrose
- fructose
- lactose
- a mixture of dextrose and fructose
- and many others
Some products are sweetened with syrups. For example, with agave syrup, apple syrup or pear syrup. Juice concentrates are also used, for example, grape juice concentrate. Products might also contain honey, caramel, or other syrups, for example, glucose syrup.
There is also the term "sweetened only with fruit". This does not mean that the product is unsweetened.
Alcohol
Children must not eat or drink alcohol in any form. Do not give your child any food that contains alcohol or alcohol flavourings. Even if you cook the food, there can still be alcohol in it. It is not possible to tell how much alcohol remains in the food after cooking it.
Alcohol can also be found in milk desserts, chocolate desserts or even in toast. Take a close look at the list of ingredients. Do not give your child any products that contain alcohol.
