Why this site?

Unfortunately, nutritional information panels (NIP's) are hard to understand and hard to make comparisons between similar foods. Similar foods may have different portion sizes making meaningful comparison almost impossible.

What does this site do?.

Given the input of the 100g or 100ml column panel of a food or drink item NIP, we use a computer to draw an image with a Traffic Light overlay over 4 of the 8 main substances listed on NIP's. We encourage you to print or save these images for future comparisons.

What is a Traffic Light overlay?

The Traffic Light Food system was pioneered in the UK to highlight the relative 'healthiness' of foods. The 4 'targets' of traffic light food labeling are fat, saturated fat, sugar and sodium. These values are colour coded with red, amber or green according to published values to visually indicate the level of each in a portion of food. Our belief is that all foods have some benefit, and, that all food intake needs to be balanced to ensure a healthy diet. Using a simple labeling system may encourage healthier eating options without denying treats.

What makes this site different?

Our image includes ALL 8 values for the recommended dietary intake (RDI) often seen on Australian food items WITH a traffic light overlay. Also, we believe that comparing images based on 100 grams or mls rather than portion size is a fairer comparison. So, let's get started comparing apples with apples!
Also, it's not limited to Australia, it doesn't matter where you live, plug in the values!

But I don't eat 100 grams of each food

That's correct! But, it's the easiest comparison to make. If you eat less, the corresponding values drop, and if you eat more, the corresponding values will rise.

Can I publish these images?

You can save the images to your local hard drive for personal use. You may publish the images on websites as long as you link back or give fair reference to this web site. We reserve copyright where applicable. We do have an API (a programmer term) if you are interested. Basically, please use the feedback form to contact us.

I entered some lunch items at work, and when I got home the items were gone!

Not really. Since we don't use a log in to identify you, we use the IP address of the computer that you used to enter the items. At home, it would be a different IP address. When you return to work, provided you use the same computer, the items will still be there.

What's the importance of salt?

Salt matters! See this site

Salt is not on the Nutritional Panel.. what's going on?

Salt (1 gram) = Sodium Chloride (1 gram) = Sodium (400 milligrams), So, 1000 milligrams (mg) of sodium = 2.5 grams of Salt

Do I avoid food items which have RED traffic light label indicators

Plain and simple, the answer is NO.

All foods can be a part of your diet plan.You just need to be aware that too much fat, saturated fat, sugar or sodium may lead to an unhealthy diet. From our personal point of view, we eat a wide variety of foods with the aim of balancing our daily diet to AVERAGE green or amber. If a nutrient goes RED over an entire day, we reduce SOME items in that category to bring our diet back to balance.

Put simply, we love our chocolate; we still enjoy the REDS, but in moderation.

To end with a bit of humour, you might also like to ask - Why do the REDS taste so good?

Hmm....we'll leave that up to the manufacturers