'Low fat' isn't a vibe. It's a threshold.

Claims are a legal category, not adjectives

A "nutrition claim" is a defined thing, not a compliment: the Regulation describes it as any statement, image or symbol that says or implies a food has particular beneficial nutritional properties — "low fat" and "high fibre" are the Commission's own examples. The point of the system is that the vocabulary is closed: a pack may only carry the claims written into the Regulation's annex, under the conditions written beside each one. Source: European Commission on nutrition claims (opens in a new tab) Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Annex (opens in a new tab).

The annex words each entry the same way — the claim, "and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer", may only be made when the product meets the stated condition. So "lower in fat", "light on fat" or a dieting-themed redesign do not slip past the rule by rephrasing; if a shopper would read it as a nutrition claim, it is treated as one. Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Annex (opens in a new tab).

Words that never made the annex do not simply slip free — they leave the nutrition-claim lane and can land in the health-claim one. A word like "wholesome" — the UK advertising guidance's own worked example — can count as a general health claim: wording that suggests a broad benefit is only lawful when the pack also carries an authorised specific claim. Genuinely mood-only material — imagery, palettes, unstated suggestion — sits under the general rules against misleading instead. The ingredients-list guide covers that broader layer; this page is about the words that do have a number behind them. Source: CAP guidance on general health claims (opens in a new tab) Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Article 10 (opens in a new tab).

The threshold examples: low fat, high protein, source of fibre

The annex is a table of conditions, and reading three or four entries teaches the whole grammar. The thresholds work on three different yardsticks — a mass figure per 100 g or 100 ml, a share of the food's energy, or a percentage less than a similar product — so each entry below carries its own basis. And the Regulation judges the claim on the food ready for consumption: where a product needs preparing, the claim applies to it prepared by the manufacturer's instructions, not to the dry packet. Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Annex (opens in a new tab) Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Article 5 (opens in a new tab).

• "Low fat" — no more than 3 g of fat per 100 g of a solid food, or 1.5 g per 100 ml for liquids (semi-skimmed milk has its own line at 1.8 g per 100 ml).
• "Source of fibre" — at least 3 g of fibre per 100 g, or at least 1.5 g per 100 kcal; "high fibre" doubles it to 6 g per 100 g or 3 g per 100 kcal.
• "Source of protein" — at least 12% of the food's energy value comes from protein; "high protein" raises the bar to 20% of energy — which is why a calorie-dense bar can lawfully carry the claim.
• "Reduced" something — at least 30% less of that nutrient than a similar product, with carve-outs: 10% counts for micronutrients, 25% for sodium or salt.
• "Light" or "lite" — must meet the "reduced" conditions and say on the pack which characteristic has been reduced.
• "Fat-free" — no more than 0.5 g of fat per 100 g or 100 ml, and the annex bans the "X% fat-free" phrasing outright.

Health claims are even stricter

The same Regulation carries a second, tighter register for health claims — wording that links a nutrient to the body rather than to the pack's contents, along the lines of what a nutrient does for bones or cholesterol. Where a nutrition claim needs to meet a threshold, a health claim needs individual authorisation before it can be used at all. Source: European Commission on nutrition and health claims (opens in a new tab).

That difference is the practical read: a nutrition claim says "this food contains more of X or less of Y" — a measurable fact with a threshold. A health claim says "X does something in you" — a different kind of promise, gated differently. When a pack runs one, it is making the bigger of the two promises and the regulated wording around it is part of the deal.

Even the loosest form of health claim is gated: a reference to general, non-specific benefits — the broad "good for you" kind of wording — may only be made when a specific authorised claim accompanies it, which is why soft words like "wholesome" sit inside the same system rather than outside it. Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Article 10 (opens in a new tab) Source: CAP guidance on general health claims (opens in a new tab).

Neither kind of claim is a verdict on whether the food is a good idea for you — both are vocabulary controls, not endorsements. The annex keeps the words honest; whether the food belongs in your week is a different question entirely.

What a compliant claim still doesn't tell you

A claim certifies exactly one line of the table. "Low fat" is silent on sugars and salt; "high protein" is silent on everything except the share of energy from protein; "source of fibre" says nothing about what the rest of the bar is made of. The claim can be entirely lawful and the food still be a poor pick for what you actually wanted — the threshold is met nutrient by nutrient, never dish by dish.

The claim also describes the food as the manufacturer intends it eaten — ready for consumption under the pack's own instructions — not the portion you will pour or the extras you add. A "low fat" mug-soup powder is judged as made up with water, not after the knob of butter you might stir in, and the claim's small-print serving is not the bowl you will actually fill. The portion guide covers the what-you-actually-eat half of the question.

And the words around the claim are doing different work: photography and palettes carry no threshold at all, while softer benefit wording — "wholesome", "guilt-free" — can still fall under the health-claim rules rather than escaping regulation. The regulated phrases are the ones worth reading first; the mood around them earns no trust on its own.

Claims vs the per-100 g table: which to trust

They answer different questions, and the order matters. The claim is voluntary — the brand chose it, and chose which nutrient to spotlight. The nutrition declaration beside it is the mandatory layer: most prepacked foods have to show energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt on the same per-100 g footing, so two products can be compared like for like. The nutrition-label guide walks that table column by column.

So read the claim as a question, then let the table answer it. "High protein" prompts "and what else?" — the sugars and saturates columns. "Low fat" prompts "what replaced it?" — often the carbohydrate line. The claim tells you which shelf it is proud of; the table shows you the whole shop.

Ingredients run the third check: a "source of fibre" flapjack is still mostly oats and syrup, and descending-weight order tells you which one leads. Claim, table, list — in that order — is the full honest read of a pack.

Where the rules come from

The rulebook is Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims, adopted for the EU in 2006 and retained in UK law at EU exit — the annex linked above is the legislation.gov.uk version. EU member states apply the Regulation directly, and Northern Ireland continues under the EU rules, so the same list is doing the work on both sides of the checkout today. Source: Regulation 1924/2006, Annex (opens in a new tab) Source: European Commission on nutrition claims (opens in a new tab).

Outside that shared system the words are on their own: the US runs claims through FDA definitions with different thresholds and different terms, so a phrase that means something precise on a UK or EU pack may be looser elsewhere. The phrase travels; the number behind it does not.

The standing boundary, as ever: a photo of a pack can help you spot the wording — a lookup can even suggest what the product is — but it cannot read the table, weigh the serving or vouch for the claim. For that, the pack in your hand and the annex are the evidence. What a photo can tell you maps the rest of that line.