How to Read Nutrition Labels (by Jimmy Joy)

It’s obvious that our meals look stunning in their carefully crafted packaging 😌 But did you know that these custom-made containers and wrappers also contain a ton of important information? Yes, the information can be difficult to understand. But this scientific-looking magic is there to make sure that you know what’s in your meals! So let’s find out what all this trickery really means and take a look at the Plenny Shake Vanilla nutrition label.

Ingredients

The ingredient list tells you what our meals are made of. It includes flavourings, food additives and food enzymes. The ingredients are listed according to the amount of the ingredient they contain, in descending order. Check it out: the amount of oats in Plenny Shake Vanilla is the highest. When an ingredient consists of other ingredients, it is in brackets. This applies, for example, to the vitamin and mineral mix we use.

Allergens

The ingredient list also gives you more information about the allergens present in a product. These are indicated in bold . However, this only applies to the main allergens identified by EFSA. These include cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya beans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupins and molluscs.

Allergens in Plenny Shake

If you look at the nutrition label, you can see that the only allergens in Plenny Shake Vanilla are oat flour, soy flour, and soy protein. [1]

Nutritional values

In addition to a list of ingredients, the nutrition label also contains information about nutritional values. Things like energy value and macros are mentioned here, as well as fats, carbohydrates (including sugars), proteins and salt. These are mentioned per 100 grams and per serving.

Average nutritional values ​​per 100 grams

The energy value and the amount of nutrients are stated per 100 g in solid form and per 100 ml in liquid form. This makes it easier to compare different foods or products.

Average nutritional values ​​per serving

The energy value and the amount of nutrients are also mentioned per serving. In this case, one serving (or meal) of Plenny Shake contains 400 calories. For Plenny Shake Vanilla, 94 grams of the nutritionally complete powder are added up in one serving.

Calculations of nutritional values

The amounts of fats, saturates, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins and salt are calculated by simply adding up all the ingredients used for the meal. Each nutrient, except salt, has a specific caloric value per gram.

• Fat: 9 kcal
• Protein: 4 kcal
• Carbohydrates: 4 kcal
• Alcohol: 7 kcal
• Fiber: 2 kcal

By multiplying the amount of nutrients in grams by the number of calories per gram, the energy value of the product can be calculated.

Macronutrient Reference Intakes

Reference Intakes (RIs) are the maximum amount of calories and nutrients you should consume on average in one day, according to European legislation which was based on research by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The suggested intakes used for labelling purposes, shown below, are based on a daily energy intake of 8400 kJ/2000 kcal.

• Energy: 8400 kJ/2000 kcal
• Fat: 70 g
• Saturated fat: 20 g
• Carbohydrates: 260 g
• Sugars: 90 g
• Protein: 50 g
• Salt: 6 g

The Plenny Shake Vanilla label shows how much RI you get per serving. As a general rule, each serving contains at least 20% of the RI for each macronutrient.

Guidance only

Reference intakes are intended for guidance purposes only and are not a recommendation for personal intake. For example, EFSA states that 5 g of salt per day is safe and adequate for the general adult population in the EU. But the reference salt intake is 6 g. Strange, right? The same goes for sugar: the reference intake is 90 g, while the World Health Organisation recommends an intake of less than 50 g per 2000 kcal (<10 E%).

That's why we made the salt and sugar content in our meals lower than that of the RI. [2, 3]

Micronutrient Reference Intakes

Just like macronutrients, vitamins and minerals (per serving) are listed relative to reference intakes. As a general rule, one serving (or meal) of Plenny Shake has at least 20% of the daily RI. But some micronutrients have a different amount. This is because we consider individual recommendations, the absorption rate of micronutrients, and their bioavailability to determine the perfect amount. You can read more about this in our article about the specific types and amounts of micronutrients in our meals!

Questions?

If you have any questions about our nutritional information, this article, or anything else that may be on your mind, please feel free to email us at info@esjoy.es . We will be happy to answer any and all questions you may have.

Sources

1. EFSA. (2011, October). Regulation (EU) no 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
2. Turck, D., Castenmiller, J., De Henauw, S., Hirsch‐Ernst, K., Kearney, J., Knutsen, H.K., Maciuk, A., Mangelsdorf, I., McArdle, H.J., Pelaez, C. , Pentieva, K., Siani, A., Thies, F., Tsabori, S., Vinceti, M., Aggett, P., Fairweather‐Tait, S., Martin, A., Przyrembel, H., . . . Naska, A. (2019). Dietary reference values ​​for sodium. EFSA Journal, 17(9).
3. Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values ​​for carbohydrates and dietary fiber. (2010). EFSA Journal, 8(3).