Food marketed for children carries more front-of-pack messaging than almost any other category. Most of the useful information sits elsewhere on the packet.
The ingredient list is ordered by weight
Ingredients appear in descending order of quantity, so the position of an item tells you more than its presence does.
Sugars can appear under several names, and separating them across the list means each appears lower down than the total would justify.
For products aimed at young children, where a fruit or vegetable appears in the list is often more informative than the picture of it on the front.
Claims are regulated but narrow
Wording such as low, reduced or free of a nutrient is defined in regulation, with specific thresholds, and cannot be used freely.
The definitions are narrower than they sound. A claim about added sugar says nothing about total sugar, since fruit concentrates and juices contribute sugar without being added sugar.
Claims relating to health effects are regulated separately and more strictly, which is why packaging tends to rely on imagery and general wording instead.
Per-portion figures depend on the portion
Nutrition figures are usually given both per hundred grams and per portion, and the portion is defined by the manufacturer rather than by a standard.
A small stated portion makes every per-portion figure look modest, and comparison between products only works using the per-hundred-gram column.
Stated portions for children's products are frequently smaller than the amount a child would eat in one sitting, particularly for items packaged as a single serving.
Front-of-pack schemes differ by country
Colour coding, scoring systems and warning labels all exist in different markets, and they use different algorithms and thresholds.
Some are mandatory and some voluntary, which means absence of a label carries different meaning depending on where the product was bought.
Imported products may carry a scheme unfamiliar to the buyer, or none at all, so the comparison a shopper is used to making may not be available.
Marketing sits outside the label
Characters, colours and packaging shape influence children's requests and parents' perceptions of healthiness, and these are only partly restricted by regulation.
Restrictions on advertising food to children vary widely between countries and cover broadcast advertising more comprehensively than packaging and online promotion.
Questions about a specific child's diet, particularly with allergies, restricted eating or a medical condition, are for a dietitian or doctor rather than for label reading.