Developing guidance on portion size communication to consumers

Portion size is important for food labelling purposes and from the perspective of nutrient and energy intake. IGD has brought together a number of food companies, food industry organisations and NGOs to develop guidance on portion size communication to consumers based on a consistent terminology, which provides them with relevant and practical information and tools, and helps them move towards a healthy, balanced diet.
 

Portion sizes vary between products

Nutritional information presented on food labels may refer to ‘per portion’ or ‘per serving’ in addition to a ‘per 100g’ quantity, with the size of a portion or serving varying between products within a category.

There are no predefined portion quantities, and for both single and multi-serve products, the manufacturer determines portion size for labelling purposes.

The increasing prevalence of obesity has focused attention on portion size, particularly of those products that are high in saturated fat and sugar.
 

Understanding approaches to portion size

IGD’s Industry Nutrition Strategy Group formed a working group to start looking at portion size in 2008.

The first stage of our work was to map approaches to portion size by a range of organisations, which we published in our 2008 report ‘Portion size: A review of existing approaches’

Following the recommendations of the 2008 report, research into consumers’ understanding of, and attitudes to, the portion size information on packaged foods and drinks was published in the report ‘Portion size: Understanding the consumer perspective’

In 2009 IGD followed on this research with two new reports. “Voluntary guidelines on communicating portion size to consumers” and “Portion size communication in therapeutic practice”.

For more information and to download each report, click on the link below:

IGD and Portion Sizes