Guides
Read the label, not the front of the package
What the rules say about ingredient lists, and what health authorities say about what’s on them. Every claim links to its source.
- How to read an ingredient list, wherever it was printedIngredient lists follow a few rules. Here’s what the order means, how allergens are marked in the US and the EU, and what “may contain” really tells you.
- The names for sugar on an ingredient listSugar goes by more than a dozen names on a label. Here are the ones to look for, what WHO counts as free sugar, and how much it recommends.
- The six food colors that need a warning in EuropeIn the EU, six artificial colors must carry a warning about children’s activity and attention. Here are the six, their US names, and what happened to Red 3.
- Partially hydrogenated oil, and why it’s disappearingPartially hydrogenated oil is the main source of industrial trans fat. Here’s what WHO recommends, and what the US decided in 2015 and 2023.
- Salt or sodium: how to read either numberEU labels show salt and US labels show sodium. Here’s how to turn one into the other, and what WHO recommends a day.
- Which allergens a label has to name, in the US and the EUThe US requires 9 major allergens to be declared and the EU 14. Here’s the full comparison, and the two that can hide under “spice” on a US label.