Food labels for health
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can analyse food labels to make healthier choices.
Key learning points
- Food labels show us information about pre-packaged food and drinks.
- Nutrition information labels can help us to make healthier choices.
- Front of pack nutrition labels are shown as traffic lights. When choosing, go for greens and ambers, and fewer reds.
- Common allergens, when present in a pre-packed food or drink, must be emphasised clearly in the ingredients list.
Keywords
Food label - conveys information about a food on its packaging
Nutrition information - information about the nutritional content of a food, e.g. energy, fat, salt
Traffic light - in this context, a colour coded nutrition label that shows the amounts of energy and nutrients, e.g. low, medium and high
Common misconception
Traffic lights can be used to compare different types of foods for the healthiest option.
Traffic lights are designed to help people compare similar foods for the healthiest option, so they are comparing foods ‘like for like’.
Teacher tip
Have a range of food packaging (which has been cleaned) for the pupils to explore food labels. Using real food lables helps to contextualise the concept of food labelling into real life and allows for greater discussion and decision making.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What information will you always see on a food label?
Q2.Match the following healthy eating advice:
five fruit and veg a day.
twice a week.
six to eight drinks a day.
with each main meal.
Q3.Carbohydrate, fat and protein are known as __________ nutrients.
Q4.Where should the following food be stored to be safe to eat?
fridge
freezer
cupboard
Q5.Some people have a food to milk, peanuts and fish.
Q6.If we have foods high in fat, salt and sugars, we should have them __________ and __________ .
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Food labels provide information which helps people to know ...
Q2.Which ingredient is in the largest amount in this chicken balti?
Q3.By law, any food must be highlighted on the ingredients list.
Q4.Nutrition information labels can help us to make healthier choices. For example, we can choose foods that are:
Q5.Here are the traffic lights for three bean burritos. Which is the healthiest choice?
Q6.True or false? Traffic lights on food labels can be used to compare different types of foods for the healthiest option.
To help you plan your 6 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Food labels for health, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Food labels for health, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 cooking and nutrition lessons from the Healthy eating in action unit, dive into the full primary cooking and nutrition curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.