Trying to decipher the adequate amount of salt and sugar in a product during the supermarket rush can be confusing, so the health authorities have released a leaflet to help people make sense of food labels.

"We want people to make the right choice and go for healthy options," Health Promotion Department head Charmaine Gauci said.

The leaflet includes a small card, the size of a credit card, which can be carried in wallets to help consumers check the ingredients listed on the packaging and determine whether food is healthy.

The card explains that five grams or less of sugars, three grams or less of total fats and 1.5 grams or less of saturated fats per 100 grams can be considered low. A product is low in salt when there is 0.3 grams or less per 100 grams.

Copies of the leaflet - Read Food Labels For A Healthier Choice - can be picked up at health centres, the Health Ministry or Pavi supermarket, which sponsored it. Consumers can also phone the department on 2326 6000 to request a copy.

The leaflet came just days after the European Parliament shot down efforts to introduce colour-coded warnings on food labels. Consumer groups had pushed for this form of labelling, describing the traffic light system as the easiest way to inform obese Europeans about the nutritional value of food.

The proposed system would have required food companies to put a label on the front of their packages with a red, amber or green icon to denote the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar they contain,

The EP negative vote was described by the European Consumers' Organisation as "a severe blow". Its director general, Monique Goyens, said research from across Europe showed that consumers found colour coding the easiest and simplest way to make informed and healthy choices.

"When we clearly have an obesity epidemic spreading across Europe and when consumers clearly want to make healthier choices about their diet, we really should give them the tools that work best and which they want," she said.

She described the vote as hugely disappointing.

"MEPs have missed the opportunity to make healthy food more accessible. We fear the fight against childhood obesity, in particular, has taken a serious blow today.

"Parents more than anyone else are the people who don't have the time to check detailed and complex information currently found on many food products. All we ask is that we have a clear, transparent system in place where all shoppers can make, at a glance, comparisons between various foods," Ms Goyens said.