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We all know what we eat thanks to the information that appears on the labels of processed foods. From their cereal in the morning to their glass of wine at night, including hundreds of other articles, consumers can check the ingredients of foods and drinks, how they were made, the health registry, weight in grams or volume in cubic centimetrs, the brand, the name of the company, the factory where the product was made, the 'denominaci�n del origen', or certificate of quality, if it were necessary, and the recommended deadline for consumption, among many other valuable pieces of information.

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Norms in force
In Spain the Agriculture Ministry is the body responsible for monitoring the quality of labeling information, for which there is very precise legislation. The latest initiative in this area came on July 18 when the council of ministers approved a decree establishing specific labeling requirements for canned white asparagus, such as origin of the vegetable, be it Spain, the European Union and other countries. This is an example of governments' desire to improve information not just of the origin of products but also their manufacturers and the kind of packaging used, in line with the corresponding European Union norm (EN/200901 for tin containers, for example).

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The European Union takes food labels very seriously, and in mid-July the European Commission proposed restricting erroneous and confusing indications about products' health benefits (such as cutting calories, reducing stress or boosting memory, for instance). Once this measure is approved by the EU council of ministers and the European Parliament, the 15-member will be able to bar references to doctors or health care specialists and claims that not eating a certain food can cause health problems. The proposal, which may take effect in 2005 bars beverages with more than 1.2% alcohol from making claims about their health benefits, something they know all about in the tobacco industry.�

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As current legislation on labeling does not address nutritional values clearly, the EU executive branch wants to better regulate references to ingredients such as fats, sugar and salt, and set a list with limits beyond which a product can be defined as high or low in a certain substance. For example, to say a product is sugar-free, this should only be said when the product contains less than 5 grams of sugar for each 100 grams of product; for food to be classified as low in sodium, it should be less than 0.04 grams. If a manufacturer wants to state this, his or her product is high in protein, this should be at least 12% of the energy value of the food. And to say it is high in fiber, it must have more than 6 grams for each 100 grams of product. Furthermore, the EU doesn't want any manufacturers to make claims about about a food's ability to ward off disease� ("reduces risk of heart attack", for instance), without authorization and evaluation from the European Food Safety Authority.