Ingredient List

Learn to make healthier food choices by using the nutrition information, such as the ingredient list, found on prepackaged foods.

What is the ingredient list?

It is a list of all the ingredients in a food. The ingredients are listed in order of weight, from most to least. This means that the food contains more of the ingredients at the beginning of the list and less of the ingredients at the end of the list. Food companies have to put the ingredient list on packaged foods.

Example: Bran Cereal

Ingredients: Whole wheat, wheat bran, sugar/glucose-fructose, salt, malt (corn flour, malted barley), vitamins (thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, d-calcium pantothenate), minerals (iron, zinc oxide).

Where is the ingredient list found?

The ingredient list may be found anywhere on the food label. However, most of the time, it is close to the Nutrition Facts table.

How can you make a healthier choice?

The ingredient list can help you:

• See if a food product has a specific ingredient.
• Avoid certain ingredients in case of a food allergy or intolerance.

Helpful hints at the grocery store:

There may be some items on the ingredient list that you are not familiar with. Sometimes nutrients such as saturated and trans fats, sodium and sugar can appear on an ingredient list under many different names.

Here is a list of some of the other names for saturated and trans fats, sodium and sugar. To make a healthier choice, look at both the ingredient list and the Nutrition Facts table.

Nutrient	Possible Ingredients
Saturated fat	Bacon Beef fat Butter Chicken fat Cocoa butter Coconut or coconut oil Hydrogenated fats and oils Lard Palm or palm kernel oil Powdered whole milk solids Shortening Suet Tallow
Trans fat	Hard margarine Hydrogenated fats and oils Partially hydrogenated fats and oils Shortening
Sodium	Baking powder Baking soda Brine Celery salt Disodium phosphate Garlic salt Monosodium glutamate (MSG) Onion salt Salt Sodium alginate Sodium benzoate Sodium bisulfate Sodium proprionate Soy sauce
Sugars	Brown sugar Cane juice extract Corn syrup Demerara or Turbinado sugar Dextrose Evaporated cane juice Fructose Galactose Glucose Glucose-fructose High fructose corn syrup Honey Invert sugar Lactose Liquid sugar Maltose Molasses Sucrose Syrup Treacle Hint: Words ending in "ose" are likely sugars

Additional resources:

• Interactive tools
• Using the Nutrition Facts table: % Daily Value (Factsheet)
• Interactive Nutrition Label and Quiz
• Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide
• Shopping tips