How to Read Nutrition Labels in the US, UK and EU

How are US, UK and EU nutrition labels different?

All three tell you the energy and main nutrients in a food, but they are laid out differently and some terms mean different things. If you shop across borders or use a food-tracking app with an international database, these differences can change the numbers you log.

Feature	United States (FDA)	United Kingdom	European Union
Main basis	Per serving, sometimes also per package	Per 100 g or 100 ml, optionally per portion	Per 100 g or 100 ml, optionally per portion
Energy	Calories; kilojoules optional	kJ and kcal	kJ and kcal
Carbohydrate	Total carbohydrate includes fiber	Excludes fibre (listed separately if declared)	Excludes fibre (listed separately if declared)
Sodium or salt	Sodium in mg	Salt in g	Salt in g
Daily reference	%Daily Value, based on 2,000 calories	Reference intakes (RI), based on 8,400 kJ / 2,000 kcal	Reference intakes (RI), based on 8,400 kJ / 2,000 kcal
Front-of-pack	Not part of the Nutrition Facts panel	Voluntary colour-coded traffic lights	Voluntary schemes, such as Nutri-Score in Germany

How do you read a nutrition label, step by step?

1. Find the basis. Is the number per serving, per 100 g, or per pack?
2. Compare it with what you will actually eat. Weigh your portion or count servings, then scale the numbers.
3. Check energy in the unit you track. Use kcal if your app uses kcal; European labels show both.
4. Read protein, carbohydrate and fat. These are your macros. Our guide on how to count macros shows how to log them.
5. Check saturated fat, sugars and sodium or salt. These are the nutrients most labels and guidelines suggest limiting.
6. Use the daily reference column to compare products, not as a personal target.
7. Scan the ingredients list. Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight, so the first few make up most of the product.

How do you read a US Nutrition Facts label?

Start with the serving information at the top. The FDA explains in its guide to understanding the Nutrition Facts label that all nutrient amounts, including calories, refer to one serving. The serving size reflects the amount people typically eat or drink and is not a recommendation of how much to eat. Some packages show a second column for the whole package.

The FDA's own example is frozen lasagna: one serving is 1 cup with 280 calories, and the package holds four servings, so eating all of it means 1,120 calories.

The %Daily Value (%DV) shows how much one serving contributes to a day's intake. The FDA's general guide is that 5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is low and 20% DV or more is high. Daily Values are based on 2,000 calories and include less than 20 g of saturated fat, less than 2,300 mg of sodium, less than 50 g of added sugars and at least 28 g of dietary fiber. Total sugars and trans fat have no %DV, and protein only shows one in specific situations.

Two details matter for tracking. First, calories on US labels are rounded: under the federal rule in 21 CFR 101.9, to the nearest 5 calories up to 50 and the nearest 10 above that. Second, total carbohydrate is calculated by difference (total weight minus protein, fat, moisture and ash), so it includes fiber.

How do you read UK food labels and traffic lights?

The NHS guide to food labels explains that pre-packed foods carry a nutrition label on the back or side with energy in kJ and kcal, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt, given per 100 g or 100 ml and sometimes per portion. Allergens must be highlighted in bold in the ingredients list.

Many products also have a front-of-pack label using red, amber and green. The scheme is described in the Department of Health and Social Care's front-of-pack labelling guidance, and red means high, amber medium and green low. For foods, the NHS gives these thresholds:

Per 100 g of food	Low (green)	High (red)
Total fat	3 g or less	More than 17.5 g
Saturated fat	1.5 g or less	More than 5 g
Total sugars	5 g or less	More than 22.5 g
Salt	0.3 g or less (0.1 g sodium)	More than 1.5 g (0.6 g sodium)

Drinks use different criteria. The NHS also cautions that the manufacturer's idea of a portion may differ from yours, so the per 100 g column is the fairest way to compare products.

How do you read EU nutrition labels?

EU labels follow Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. The European Commission's nutrition labelling overview says most pre-packed foods must show the energy value and the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt, expressed per 100 g or 100 ml, with per-portion values allowed in addition.

When a label also shows percentages, they refer to the reference intakes of an average adult set out in Annex XIII of the regulation: 8,400 kJ (2,000 kcal) of energy, 70 g total fat, 20 g saturates, 260 g carbohydrate, 90 g sugars, 50 g protein and 6 g salt. The UK version of the regulation, published on legislation.gov.uk, sets the same values.

In Germany you will also see the Nutri-Score, a five-step scale from a dark green A to a red E. The federal food ministry (BMLEH) explains on its Nutri-Score page that it has been used in Germany since 2020 and is meant for comparing similar products, such as two yogurts. It is listed among voluntary labels.

How do you convert kJ to kcal and sodium to salt?

• kJ to kcal: labels equate 8,400 kJ with 2,000 kcal, a ratio of 4.2. A product with 1,680 kJ per 100 g has about 1,680 / 4.2 = 400 kcal.
• Sodium to salt: multiply sodium by 2.5; the NHS thresholds above, for example, equate 1.5 g of salt with 0.6 g of sodium. So 600 mg of sodium per 100 g on a US label equals 1.5 g of salt, right at the UK high threshold.
• US to EU carbohydrate: because US total carbohydrate includes fiber, a US label showing 30 g total carbohydrate and 8 g fiber corresponds roughly to 22 g carbohydrate plus 8 g fibre on a European label.

How accurate are nutrition labels?

Reasonably, but not perfectly. Under US rules, a food is considered misbranded if its calories, sugars, fat, saturated fat or sodium are more than 20 percent above the declared value. EU guidance on labelling tolerances allows, for example, plus or minus 20 percent for protein, carbohydrate and fat in foods containing 10 to 40 g per 100 g. For tracking, the label is still the best number you have; just expect small daily errors to average out over weeks. For more on where tracking errors come from, see how accurate AI macro calculations are.

Barcode scanning in tracking apps pulls these label values automatically, which saves typing but not the portion check. MyMacro AI, which is not yet released, is designed to include barcode scanning alongside voice and photo logging; our explainer on how AI food tracking works covers how these inputs are turned into macros.

Frequently asked questions

What does %DV mean on a nutrition label?

Percent Daily Value shows how much one serving contributes to a daily diet based on 2,000 calories. The FDA treats 5% or less as low and 20% or more as high.

Why do UK and EU labels show values per 100 g?

EU Regulation 1169/2011, which the UK retained, requires energy and nutrients to be expressed per 100 g or 100 ml so products can be compared directly. Per-portion values may be added.

How do I convert kJ to calories?

Divide kilojoules by about 4.2. European labels equate 8,400 kJ with 2,000 kcal.

What is the difference between salt and sodium on labels?

US labels list sodium in milligrams, while UK and EU labels list salt in grams. Salt equals sodium multiplied by 2.5.

Do US carbohydrate numbers include fiber?

Yes. US total carbohydrate is calculated by difference and includes fiber, while EU and UK carbohydrate figures exclude fibre.

Sources

1. How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2024)
2. 21 CFR 101.9 - Nutrition labeling of food, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (US Code of Federal Regulations) (2026)
3. Food labels, NHS (2026)
4. Front of pack nutrition labelling guidance, Department of Health and Social Care (GOV.UK) (2016)
5. Nutrition labelling, European Commission, Food Safety (2026)
6. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII: Reference intakes, legislation.gov.uk (2011)
7. Guidance document tolerances: simplified summary table, European Commission (2012)
8. Nutri-Score, Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Ernährung und Heimat (BMLEH) (2026)

Not medical advice. This article is general information for healthy adults and is not a substitute for advice from a doctor or registered dietitian. Talk to a qualified professional before changing your diet, exercise or supplements, especially if you are pregnant, under 18, have a medical condition such as diabetes or kidney disease, take medication, or have a history of disordered eating. See our health disclaimer.