How to decode labels?

In today's world marked by daily hustle and bustle, making conscious food choices can become a challenge.
As such, the need arose for a tool to assist in reading labels: The Label Decoder.

What is Label Decoder?

The Label Decoder is a food literacy guide developed by the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS), integrated in the Directorate-General for Health, with the aim of helping consumers choose the most nutritionally interesting foods.

How to use the Label Decoder (or nutritional traffic light)?

The Label Decoder is a tool that associates, in the same way as a traffic light, 3 colors (green, yellow and red) with 4 nutrients (fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt) in food, according to the quantity of each nutrient.

To use this guide you must compare the information on the food or drink label (per 100g or 100ml, respectively) with the information provided in the label decoder.

Label Decoder Interpretation

Choose foods and drinks with nutrients that are mostly in the green category. This means that they have a low concentration of the nutrient, making them a more interesting option from a nutritional point of view. This is the case with ZESTY chocolates, which have less than 5g of added sugar per 100g, and this nutrient is in the green category.

Therefore, moderate your consumption of foods and beverages with one or more nutrients in the yellow category and avoid those with one or more nutrients in the red category.