Food Packaging Claims
Have you ever bought a food because the package said the item was “low-sodium” or “low-fat” or made some other claim? It’s important to understand what these claims mean so you can make informed decisions about the food you buy for yourself and your family.
There are three categories of claims defined by statute and/or FDA regulations that can be used on food and dietary supplement labels:
- health claims,
- nutrient content claims, and
- structure/function claims.
A "health claim" by definition has two essential components:
- A substance (whether a food, food component, or dietary ingredient) and
- A disease or health-related condition.
“Nutrient content claims” are used for two purposes:
- To describe the level of a nutrient in the product using terms such as free, high, and low or
- To compare the level of a nutrient in a food to another food using terms such as more, reduced, and lite.
Here are some of the most commonly used nutrient content claims, and what each claim generally means.
Calories |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| Calorie free | Less than 5 calories |
| Low calorie | 40 calories or less |
| Reduced calorie | At least 25% less calories than the regular product |
Sugar |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| Sugar free | Less than 0.5 grams sugars and no ingredient that is a sugar |
| Reduced sugar or less sugar | At least 25% less sugars than the regular product |
| No added sugar | No sugar or sugar-containing ingredient added during processing or packaging |
Fat |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| Fat free | Less than 0.5 g fat and no ingredient that is fat |
| Low fat | 3 g of fat or less (and not more than 30% of calories from fat for meals and main dishes) |
| Reduced fat or less fat | At least 25% less fat than the regular product |
| Low in saturated fat | 1 g or less of saturated fat, and 15% or less of the calories coming from saturated fat (10% or less for meals and main dishes) |
| Lean | Less than 10 g of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat and 95 mg of cholesterol |
| Extra lean | Less than 5 g of fat, 2 g of saturated fat and 95 mg of cholesterol |
| Light (lite) | At least 50% less fat than the regular product (or 1/3 fewer calories if less than 50% of calories are from fat) |
Cholesterol |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| Cholesterol free | Less than 2 mg of cholesterol and no ingredient that contains cholesterol |
| Low cholesterol | 20 mg of less of cholesterol |
| Reduced cholesterol | At least 25% less cholesterol than the regular product |
Sodium |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| Sodium free, salt free or no sodium | Less than 5 mg of sodium and no ingredient that is sodium chloride or contains sodium |
| Very low sodium | 35 mg or less of sodium |
| Low sodium | 140 mg or less of sodium |
| Reduced or less sodium | At least 25% less sodium than the regular product |
| Light or lite in sodium | At least 50% less sodium than the regular product |
| Lightly salted | 50% less sodium than normally added |
| No salt added or unsalted | No salt added during processing. If the food is not sodium free, the statement “not a sodium free food” or “not for control of sodium in the diet” must also appear on the label. |
Fiber |
|
| If a food claims to be … | It means that one serving* contains … |
| High fiber or excellent source of fiber | 20% or more of the Daily Value (DV) for fiber |
| Good source of fiber | 10-19% of the Daily Value (DV) for fiber |
*Based on the labeled serving size and/or the reference amount customarily consumed (RACC)
If you can’t remember the meaning of all of the terms, don’t worry. You can use this general guidance:
- “Free” means a food has the least possible amount of the specified nutrient.
- “Very Low” and “Low” means the food has a little more than foods labeled “Free.”
- “Reduced” or “Less” mean the food has 25% less of a specific nutrient than the regular product.
- "More," "Fortified," "Enriched," "Added," "Extra," or "Plus" means the food has 10% or more of the Daily Value (DV) than the regular product. May only be used for vitamins, minerals, protein, dietary fiber, and potassium.
