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Learning to read the label on food can be really helpful when it comes to keeping an eye on what you eat. Although labels can look very complicated at first, with a little practice you will be able to quickly check a label to see if a food is high fat, low fat, low sugar or high in salt and you will be able to make better food choices for you and your family.

When it comes to finding out about nutrition on a food label, the key places to look are the ingredients list and the nutrition table.

Want to reduce fat and sugar? Look at the ingredients. The first ingredient listed is the one that is there in the largest amount. The next ingredient is there in the second largest amount and so on all the way to the last ingredient, which is there in the smallest amount. So if oil, butter, cream or sugar come first, then that food is probably going to be high in calories! Get into the habit of looking at the ingredients in foods, especially if it is the first time you are buying it.

The nutrition table is the grid on the back of the pack which tells you about the energy or calories, as well as the fat, protein, salt, sugar and fibre. Most nutrition tables will tell you about the nutrients that are found in 100g of the food. This is useful because then you can compare it to other, similar foods - for example if you want to compare the amounts of fat in two different brands of salad dressing.

Reading the ingredient list and nutrition table can be very helpful when choosing between foods but looking at portions helps too, especially if you like a treat! You can use the label to choose a treat that is lower in fat or sugar or salt or you can choose a smaller size of a treat and that will also help. Portion sizes are important for healthy foods too. Nuts and seeds have a lot of great nutrition to offer but if you eat large amounts they can contribute to weight gain. The same is true for lots of foods - the nutrition is important but the portion size is important too.

Traffic Light Labelling can help us to figure out how much fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar is in our foods. A green traffic light means the food is low, an amber label means there is a medium amount and a red label means it is high.

There is no need to avoid every food that has a red traffic light - some very healthy foods like nuts or olive oil will have a red traffic light for fat. However, we need to look at how many high fat foods we eat in a day. Serving sizes are important too. A food may be red for fat but if the serving size is small, the actual amount of fat you eat will also be small. Likewise a food may be amber for salt but if you eat more than the recommended serving the actual amount of salt you eat can be high. It is all about getting a balance.

Low calorie is 40 calories or less per 100g of a solid food or

20 calories or less for liquids

A low fat food must have 3g of fat or less per 100g of the food. A reduced fat food must have 30% less calories than the full fat version. This means that it can still be quite high in fat so check the nutrition table to see how much fat there is, even if the label says 'reduced fat'.

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Learning to read the label on food can be really helpful when it comes to keeping an eye on what you eat. Although labels can look very complicated at first, with a little practice you will be able to quickly check a label to see if a food is high fat, low fat, low sugar or high in salt and you will be able to make better food choices for you and your family.

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Post-primary - Republic of Ireland (ROI) - What's on a label

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This resource is aimed at Junior Cycle and Transition Year Home Economics but it also supports the Social Personal Health Education curriculum. It allows you and your students to keep up to date on food labelling.

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Are you tired of preparing the same old thing for lunch? We hear you! Finding inspiration is not always easy. But here are some practical tips and tasty options that might tempt your little ones.

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Food Hygiene

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Food hygiene - Beat the bugs

Food poisoning is a very unpleasant experience and can be very serious. This topic explains how food poisoning can occur and what we can do to avoid it.

Information Sheet

Food poisoning symptoms normally last from one to seven days and include one or more of the following: abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and sometimes fever. Occasionally food poisoning can be very serious and even cause death. This information sheet explains the causes of food poisoning and how you can reduce the chances of food poisoning with good food hygiene.

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Food hygiene | Early School Leavers Education Resource

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Food poisoning is a very unpleasant experience and can be very serious. This topic explains how food poisoning can occur and what we can do to avoid it. Information Sheet Food poisoning symptoms normally last from one to seven days and include one or more of the following: abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and sometimes fever.

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 Safe and hygienic practices in food handling, preparation, storage and serving

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 Safe and hygienic practices in food handling, preparation, storage and serving

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We've just had raw meat on the chopping board, It has to be washed in hot, soapy water. Foresee the risks. Remember the 4 Cs. Listen to the voice of food safety. The 4 Cs - Chilling, Cooking, Cleaning and Cross Contamination. For more, see www.safefood.eu

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To help you get the best of nutrition with the minimum of fuss, we have come up with some meal suggestions for the family for each day of the week.

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A healthy guide to shopping on a budget. Own brand products are a good idea and very good value for money. Look out for offers on healthy foods that you can store easily (tinned frozen) or that you actually need, so there's no waste. For more, see www.safefood.eu

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Prof Donal O’Shea talks about making the right food choices

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Eco Eye 16 "Active Travel" HSE Donal O'Shea

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With easy, unhealthy choices everywhere can we change our environment to create a healthier society? Dr Lara Dungan meets with Professor Donal O'Shea, HSE Lead for Obesity on how we can tackle Ireland's obesity epidemic.

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Factors affecting food choice - Food a fact of life