How to read an ingredient list in Australia: a five-minute guide

The front of a pack is where the marketing lives. The back is where the facts are. If you want to know what you're actually buying, the ingredient list is the single most useful thing on the label, and in Australia it follows clear national rules.

This guide explains how to read it in a few minutes, using the rules set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) in the Food Standards Code. It's about understanding labels, not about what's healthy for you; for dietary advice, talk to your GP or an accredited practising dietitian.

1. The order tells you the most

Under the Food Standards Code (Standard 1.2.4), ingredients must be listed in descending order by ingoing weight. FSANZ explains it simply: the first ingredient listed contributed the largest amount when the food was made, and the last contributed the least.

So if sugar is near the start of the list, the product contains a greater proportion of sugar than of the ingredients that follow. If the "hero" ingredient on the front of the pack sits halfway down the list, there's less of it than the packaging suggests.

A few practical notes:

  • Added water must be listed by its ingoing weight too, with an allowance for water lost during processing. FSANZ says the exceptions are when added water makes up less than 5% of the finished product, is part of a broth, brine or syrup that's listed, or is used to reconstitute dehydrated ingredients.
  • Compound ingredients — an ingredient made of other ingredients, like the chocolate in a choc-chip biscuit — can be listed by name with their own ingredients in brackets. If a compound ingredient makes up less than 5% of the food, only some of its ingredients (such as additives and allergens) need to be listed.

2. Percentages let you compare

Most packaged foods must show the percentage of the characterising ingredients — the ingredients named in the product's name, usually associated with it, or emphasised in words or pictures. FSANZ's example: strawberry yoghurt might say "9% strawberries". Chocolate might show its cocoa solids.

This is one of the best tools on the label for comparing two similar products. Two "almond" muesli packs can look the same on the front, but if one has 15% almonds and the other has 4%, you know which has more. Some foods, such as plain bread or cheese, may have no characterising ingredient at all.

3. Additives: class names and numbers

Food additives are listed by their class name — what they do in the food — followed by the specific name or code number. For example, "thickener (440)" or "colour (150a)". Common classes include preservatives, emulsifiers, colours, thickeners, antioxidants and flavour enhancers.

Numbers aren't a warning sign in themselves; they're just a short, standard way to name an additive. FSANZ publishes a list of approved additives with their names and numbers, so you can look up any you don't recognise. If you prefer foods with fewer additives, a shorter list of recognisable ingredients makes that easy to see.

4. Allergens: look for the bold "Contains" statement

Since 25 February 2024, packaged foods in Australia have had to follow FSANZ's Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) rules. In short:

  • Allergens are declared using set plain-English names (for example "milk", "wheat", "almond").
  • They appear in bold in the ingredient list.
  • There's a separate allergen summary statement starting with the word "Contains", placed next to the ingredient list — for example, "Contains milk". If a cereal containing gluten is present, the statement must also include the word "gluten".

If you or someone in your family has a food allergy, read the whole label every time, even for products you buy regularly — recipes change. "May contain" statements are voluntary; FSANZ notes the Food Standards Code does not regulate them.

5. Use-by vs best-before

FSANZ explains the difference:

  • Use-by: food shouldn't be eaten after this date, for safety reasons.
  • Best-before: a guide to quality. FSANZ says you can still eat foods for a while after the best-before date, as they should be safe but may have lost some quality.

Knowing the difference is one of the easiest ways to reduce food waste. Foods with a shelf life of two years or more don't need a best-before date.

6. How "organic" shows up in an ingredient list

When a product is partly organic, you'll often see an asterisk next to some ingredients and a note such as "*certified organic ingredients". A few things to check:

  • How many ingredients are marked, and where they sit in the list.
  • Whether the product itself is certified. "Made with organic oats" is different from a certifier's logo and licence number on the pack.
  • Who the certifier is. In Australia, organic certification isn't required to sell food domestically, but businesses must not make misleading claims. Certifiers' logos come with a number you can check on their public register. Our eco labels and certification logos guide explains the main ones.

7. Origin: where it came from

Most packaged food sold in Australia must carry a country of origin label under the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016. Many show a bar chart of the proportion of Australian ingredients. If buying local matters to you, it's worth a glance.

What about cosmetics and body care?

Body care has its own rules. Under the Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020, cosmetics must list ingredients in descending order by mass or volume (with some flexibility for ingredients under 1%), often using international INCI names. Our bathroom swaps guide has a short explainer, and you can browse body and skin products in Skincare & beauty.

A five-minute label routine

Next time you're comparing two products, try this:

  1. Read the first three ingredients. They make up most of the product.
  2. Find the percentage of the ingredient the product is named after.
  3. Scan the "Contains" statement if allergies matter in your house.
  4. Look for asterisks and a certifier if organic matters to you.
  5. Check the date type, and the origin label if local matters.

Then decide which one suits your family. There's no single right answer — the point is knowing what you're choosing.

Labels on our marketplace

Every product on Blueberry Bear Organics carries one clear label: Certified organic, Organic (as described by the brand) or Natural & low-tox. Product information is supplied by the brands and checked in good faith, but recipes and labels can change, so always read the label on the product you receive — especially for allergens. Read more on our How we label page, or browse pantry staples in Food & pantry.

Sources

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