Explore Food Labels

Food labels are supposed to inform, protect, and empower consumers, but can sometimes be confusing. Learn how to read food labels by exploring the food categories below.

Explore Food Labels

Food labels include many different types of claims about the food’s content and ingredients, nutrition, information about specific production practices, the place the food comes from, and much more. Some information on the food label is required by law to be included while some is included voluntarily by the producer or manufacturer to provide additional information to consumers. You can explore these distinctions in the Labels 101 section of the site.

This site categorizes food products largely in the same way the United States Department of Agriculture does for MyPlate, which is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Three key distinctions are the inclusion of dietary supplements, sweets, and the grouping together of fruits and vegetables into one category,  produce. Depending on the type of product, the requirements for the food label may be different. As you explore each of the different product categories, you can see how the different product labels compare with each other and how they differ.