Maybe The Best Nutritional Facts Label I’ve Seen

London’s The Sun just published an article about the paper’s nutritionist Amanda Ursell and illustrated ingredients, those that she calls “hidden” in some favorite foods.

What’s interesting to me about this article is not the foods she chose or the ingredients themselves, but the immediate impact and empowerment that these illustrations offer to the reader. 

Keep in mind that the recipes for the foods she breaks down differ in the UK from those same food’s recipes here in the US. 

One of the first times I appeared on Oprah, CSPI also appeared with their impactful visuals – filling a lab beaker with sugar or fat that always grew shocked gasps from Oprah and the jammed packed audience – and made quite an impact on the viewers. Something her protégé, Dr. Oz continues to do to this day. 

So I’m wondering. If we have seen these kinds of impactful and empowering images for decades, why haven’t we made the connection and use these kinds of images on packages? 

Take a look and see if these instantly get the message across to you: 

A Mars bar with 60% sugar 

Pringles with 54.8% dehydrated potatoes, rice flour and wheat starch 

Coca-Cola (made with sugar) with almost 90 percent water 

Richmond Sausages with just 42% pork 

Sainsbury’s chicken and mushroom pie with just 18% chicken 

Nutella with 44% sugar and 31% fat 

Kelloggs Coco pops with 30% sugar 

And it’s not all bad… 

Yogurt with just 8% sugar 

Heinz Baked Beans with just 5% sugar 

Lets catch up to the rest of the universe. Our technology, from our phones to our laptops are all visual and even a 3 year old can understand how to use them. It’s time for our food labels to catch up.