Do you know your RDA from your GDA? Over the years, food labelling has aimed to help people understand the content of their shopping trolleys, but it has sometimes left the consumer more confused than ever. However, a survey has shown that the latest Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling effort is successfully helping people to make the healthy choice.

Since its introduction, GDA labelling has made choosing the low-fat, low-calorie, or low-salt option much easier by providing a guide to how much energy and key nutrients the average healthy person needs in order to have a balanced diet. GDA labels tell you at a glance how much of each key nutrient (e.g. calories, sugars, fat, saturates and salt) is contained in a portion of food within the context of the average daily requirements for each.

GDAs enable consumers to use nutrition information to compare the energy or nutrient levels of different foods, thus helping them to make the appropriate choice when shopping. They also make planning a healthy balanced diet much easier by informing consumers of a food's nutritional profile. But it must be remembered that these guideline daily amounts are just guides, not targets. Each GDA is for an 'average' adult and will vary depending on who you are. They are based on the recommendations for an average adult of healthy weight and average activity level.

While many previous systems have been seen as confusing by shoppers, Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) have said that people have responded well to the new, clearly visible labels with 75 per cent saying they found the system easy to understand. Meanwhile, 87 per cent said that GDAs helped them to compare similar products to decide on the healthiest choice.

Dr Louise Sullivan, Senior Executive for Consumer Foods, says that people can look forward to more products bearing the labelling in the future.

"The food and drink industry in Ireland believes that if consumers are to make informed product decisions, they need clear and meaningful nutrition information. GDA labels can now be found on over 40 per cent of the top 100 brands and on a large volume of supermarket 'own-label' products.

"We expect to see a significant increase in this number by the end of the year, as more and more companies invest in this voluntary scheme. Our members have been very proactive in this area as they continue to listen to consumers and make improvements in product labelling. We commissioned an independent survey to gauge the level of awareness of GDAs and our next step is to help consumers use the information in their day-to-day food choices."

For more information on healthy eating, check out the Bord Bia website. The website contains specific information on all the major food types, including which cuts of meat are suitable for which cooking method, to tailoring your diet to your lifestyle and how to identify quality produce. The site also includes a number of quick and tasty recipes to cook at home, and a good food guide for when you want to eat out!

Log on to www.bordbia.ie for more information.

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