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Reading a nutrition label
Students learn to read a back-of-pack nutrition label — per 100 g versus per serving, the ingredients list, the sugars and salt lines and front-of-pack colours — using a worked example with invented figures, then answer questions from it.
Learning objectives
By the end of the activity, students can:
- Read energy and nutrient values from a nutrition label in both per-100 g and per-serving columns.
- Explain why per-100 g is the fair way to compare two products.
- Convert a sodium figure to salt using salt = sodium × 2.5.
- Interpret the order of an ingredients list and the meaning of front-of-pack traffic-light colours.
The activity
- Starter (5 min): show a real packet if you have one, or the example label on the worksheet. Ask the class what they already look at on a label, and list the answers on the board.
- Input (10 min): walk through the label together — energy in kJ and kcal, the "carbohydrate, of which sugars" and "fat, of which saturates" sub-lines, salt, the ingredients-by-weight rule, and the front-of-pack colours.
- Task (20 min): students complete the worksheet individually or in pairs, reading values off the example label and doing the salt conversion.
- Plenary (10 min): take answers, focus on why the same food can look "lighter" by declaring a smaller serving, and on the sodium-versus-salt trick.
The worksheet
This prints as a clean sheet — press print and the site header, footer and this instruction row drop away. Photocopy for a class as needed.
Use the example label below to answer the questions. The figures are invented for this exercise — they are not from a real product.
Example label — "Crunchy Oat Hoops" (invented figures for the activity)
| Nutrition | Per 100 g | Per 40 g serving |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1590 kJ / 378 kcal | 636 kJ / 151 kcal |
| Fat | 4.5 g | 1.8 g |
| of which saturates | 0.9 g | 0.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 72 g | 28.8 g |
| of which sugars | 22 g | 8.8 g |
| Fibre | 7.0 g | 2.8 g |
| Protein | 9.0 g | 3.6 g |
| Salt | 0.75 g | 0.30 g |
Ingredients: Wholegrain oats (68%), sugar, oat bran, honey, salt, flavouring.
1. How many kilocalories are in one 40 g serving?
2. Which column would you use to compare this cereal fairly with a different brand, and why?
3. The label lists 22 g of sugar per 100 g. Where does most of it appear in the ingredients list, and what does the order of that list tell you?
4. The sodium of a different cereal is given as 0.4 g per 100 g. Work out its salt content. (salt = sodium × 2.5)
5. Sugar is the second ingredient here. What does its position tell you compared with a cereal where sugar is the fifth ingredient?
6. If a front-of-pack label showed sugars in amber, what would that tell a shopper?
Answer key
- 1. 151 kcal (the per-serving column).
- 2. Per 100 g, because serving sizes differ between brands, so only the per-100 g values are a like-for-like comparison.
- 3. Sugar is the second ingredient, so after oats it is the largest component by weight — ingredients are listed heaviest first.
- 4. 0.4 × 2.5 = 1.0 g of salt per 100 g.
- 5. Being second means there is more sugar (by weight) than every ingredient except oats; fifth would mean four ingredients weigh more, so relatively less sugar.
- 6. Amber means a medium amount — neither a "little" (green) nor "a lot" (red).
Teacher notes
- Keep the framing on label literacy and comparison skills, not on judging foods as "good" or "bad". The aim is that students can read the panel, not that they fear cereal.
- The salt = sodium × 2.5 conversion is the one students most often get wrong; it is worth doing a second example on the board.
- Extension: bring in two or three real packets and have students rank them per 100 g, then discuss how serving sizes could mislead.
A teaching resource, not medical or dietary advice. Handle food, sleep, sugar and energy topics sensitively with young people, and follow your school's pastoral and safeguarding procedures if a pupil raises a concern.
Frequently asked questions
What level is this for?
Suits lower-secondary science or health (roughly ages 11–14).
Can I print and photocopy it?
Yes — press print (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and the site chrome disappears, leaving the worksheet. It is free for classroom use.
Is there an answer key?
Yes, at the foot of this page. Decide whether to project, hide or hand it out.
Source: Standard public guidance (EFSA reference values, EU labelling rules, Atwater energy factors) and simple arithmetic · checked 2026-09-02
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