Guide to the food label lottery

A company with products endorsed by Ken Hom has been fined £3,000 for selling prawn crackers that don't contain any prawns.

But would you have expected them to contain real seafood anyway? Food labels can be a mystery to fathom and they don't always deliver what you expect. If you've ever wondered what those labelling terms and phrases really mean (and how they impact on your health), here's our guide to interpreting them ...

Prawn crackers

Prawn crackers without prawns fall foul of the law because food-labelling regulations state that the name used "shall be sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food". In other words, if you call something a prawn cracker, it's reasonable to expect it to contain prawns.

But a few well-known foods are allowed to keep their names because it's deemed that we are sensible enough not to take then literally. So, cream crackers don't have to contain cream and Swiss rolls don't have to come from Switzerland.

Spring water

Despite the pictures of mountains and babbling brooks, spring water can still be chemically treated - for example, to remove undesirable minerals - before it is bottled. The EU Scientific Committee for Food is due to rule on which treatments will be permitted for spring waters. In the meantime, it's impossible to know whether your glass of spring water has been treated or not. Natural Mineral Water is the only type of bottled water that is untreated by law.

Flavourings

The phrase "strawberry flavour" on, for example, a yoghurt, could mean it doesn't contain any fruit - just artificial flavouring. However, a "strawberry" yoghurt must, by law, contain real fruit - but the amount might be small and the product might also contain artificial flavourings. If there is a picture of a food on the label, for example oranges on a drink, the flavour must come "wholly or mainly" from that source.

Barn-reared

Sounds cosy, but for poultry, it means there can be 12 chickens per square metre of floor space, or up to 25 kilos combined liveweight of birds. They can be sent for slaughter after the 56th day of rearing without going outside.

Red tractor logo

The British Food Standard, with its red tractor symbol, is promoted as providing assurance-that food has been produced to the highest standards of food safety and animal welfare. But Friends of the Earth claims the standards fall short, allowing the use of GM crops and animal feeds, dubious pesticides and poultry stocking rates barely better than the minimum legal standard. Food with the RSPCA's Freedom Mark, organic food and ownbran Co-op and Marks and Spencer products are produced to higher standards, says Friends of the Earth.

No added sugar

"No added sugar" doesn't mean that the food will have a low sugar content. It may contain ingredients (such as concentrated fruit juices) that have a naturally high sugar content that is just as bad for your oral health. It may also contain artificial sweeteners.

Light / Lite/ Right

These terms aren't regulated, so they are fairly meaningless. Lite could refer to texture or imply that a product has less fat or fewer calories than similar foods. Compare brands and don't take the claim at face value. For example, Pringles Right have just as much fat as full-fat Kettle Chips.

Free from

"Free from" claims don't always mean what you might expect. For example, " alcoholfree" on a bottle of beer doesn't mean it contains no alcohol. By law, it can contain less than 0.05 per cent. Levels for other similar claims (such as "gluten free") have yet to be developed, and gluten-free, wheat-free foods will almost inevitably contain traces, says the Food Standards Agency.

Premium

Another term that has no legal meaning. One survey found that premium sausages tended to be fattier and to have no more lean meat than regular sausages. A recent Which? survey found that foods from supermarket premium ranges sometimes tasted worse than those from the standard range. The only thing you can guarantee is paying more for them.

"Bio" yoghurt

Generally speaking, "bio" is used to mean that special health cultures (different or in addition to the standard yoghurt ones) have been used, but there are no official rules governing what the word means. Typical bio cultures are Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium, which may help irritable bowel syndrome and thrush. But you can't know if the yoghurt you eat contains useful quantities.

Low in fat

The Food Standards Agency warns consumers to be wary as this statement is governed by voluntary guidelines. It is supposed to mean less than 3g fat per 100g, but "low fat" spreads are an exception, governed by EU regulations. They are allowed to contain 40 per cent fat, which is more than in whipping cream.

Freshly squeezed / Freshly pressed

Even the freshest "freshly pressed" juice will usually have been squeezed more than a day ago, and, in the case of "freshly pressed" apple juice, a pasteurisation process ensures that it can keep refrigerated for about a month.

The Food Advisory Committee has issued a consultation document recommending that "juice from freshly squeezed fruit" should be used in place of "freshly squeezed juice". It recommends also that the term "fresh" should not be used on juices prepared by dilution of concentrates.

Pure / fresh / natural

Currently, these terms are covered neither by legislation nor code of practice, so they can be used willy-nilly without redress. The Food Advisory Committee is proposing that "pure" should only be used to describe single-ingredient foods to which nothing has been added; "fresh" should be used only where the intended meaning is that no processed ingredients were used; and "natural" should mean that the product is comprised of natural ingredients not "interfered with by man".