What does the 5 A Day number on my recipe mean?

Question

Accepted Answer

5 A Day is the UK government's advice to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. Canoli shows how many whole portions one serving of your recipe provides, so you can see the effect as you change the recipe.

How the number is worked out

Canoli takes the fruit and veg in your recipe, works out how much of it is in one serving, and counts the whole portions. A part portion rounds down, so 79 g counts as 0 and 80 g counts as 1. Canoli never shows half portions.

A mix of fruit and veg can make up a portion.

The card says "Counts as 96 g of fruit and veg". That figure is what your recipe counts as, not its weight. Some ingredients count for more than they weigh: 20 g of tomato purée counts as a full 80 g portion. 19 g of tomato purée counts as 76 g, so it isn't a full portion.

Type	One portion	Counts
Fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and veg	80 g	Once for each different fruit or veg
Dried fruit	30 g	Once
Beans and pulses	80 g cooked	Once, however much you use
100% juice or smoothie	150 ml	Once, together with concentrated purée
Tomato purée	20 g	Once, together with juice
Triple-concentrated tomato purée	11.1 g	Once, together with juice
Other concentrated fruit or veg purée	40 g	Once, together with juice

Green beans, French beans, broad beans and garden peas count as vegetables, not pulses.

Canoli treats tomato purée as double-concentrated, which is the usual kind. If the ingredient name says "triple", Canoli uses the triple-concentrated weight.

Juice, smoothies and concentrated purée count as 1 portion at most, all together. So a serving with orange juice and tomato purée counts once for both.

Each fruit or veg counts once

Each fruit or vegetable counts as 1 portion at most in a serving. So 160 g of carrot counts as 1 portion, not 2.

The weight above 80 g of one fruit or veg doesn't count. For example, 145 g of carrot and 15 g of onion counts as 95 g (80 g of carrot and 15 g of onion), so it is 1 portion.

To show 2 portions, a serving needs at least 160 g counted, after the 80 g limit on each fruit or veg. So it needs two or more different fruits or veg. Canoli also needs each of them to be at least 15 g.

Canoli never shows more than 2 portions. The government's 2024 5 A Day logo licensing guidelines don't allow a product to suggest more than 2 portions. The IGD guide has no upper limit, but Canoli keeps the stricter government rule.

Saturated fat, salt and sugar

A recipe that is high (red) for saturated fat, salt or sugar on front-of-pack labelling can't claim its 5 A Day portions. These are the same limits Canoli uses for the traffic lights. A value can be at the limit, but not over it.

High if more than	Saturated fat	Total sugars	Salt
Food, per 100 g	5 g	22.5 g	1.5 g
Food, per serving over 100 g	6 g	27 g	1.8 g
Drink, per 100 ml	2.5 g	11.25 g	0.75 g
Drink, per serving over 150 ml	3 g	13.5 g	0.9 g

The per serving limits apply only when one serving is more than 100 g of food or 150 ml of drink. If your serving size is in millilitres, Canoli treats the recipe as a drink.

Canoli compares each value as your label would print it, after rounding. The traffic lights work in the same way.

If a recipe is over a limit, the card still shows the number of portions. The line under it changes, for example to "Too much salt to claim." The line names each of saturated fat, sugar and salt that is over its limit, for example "Too much saturated fat, sugar and salt to claim."

The sugar limit doesn't apply when all the sugars come from the fruit and veg. Canoli counts this as true when your other ingredients add no more than 0.5 g of sugar per 100 g. That's the level the law uses for "sugars-free". If the sugar in one of your other ingredients isn't known, Canoli can't use this exception, so the sugar limit applies.

If the recipe's saturated fat, salt or sugar isn't known, Canoli can't check the limits. The card tells you, for example "Salt not known, so limits not checked." If more than one is missing, it says "Nutrients not known, so limits not checked."

The IGD guide also lets a product meet the government's salt reduction targets instead of the salt limit. Canoli doesn't check the salt reduction targets, so it always uses the salt limit.

The line under the number

The card shows one line under the number. If more than one thing applies, Canoli shows the first of these:

A limit that stops the claim, for example "Too much salt to claim."
A nutrient that isn't known, for example "Salt not known, so limits not checked."
Ingredients Canoli couldn't check, for example "2 ingredients not checked, so this could be higher."
What your recipe counts as, for example "Counts as 96 g of fruit and veg. 80 g counts as 1."

The first two lines show only when the recipe has at least 1 portion.

What doesn't count

Potatoes, yam, cassava and plantain don't count, because they're starchy foods. Neither do nuts, seeds, coconut, herbs and spices, jam and other fruit preserves, juice drinks, alcoholic drinks, or fruit and vegetable powders and extracts. Sweet potato, parsnip, swede, turnip and carrot do count.

Choices Canoli has made

Tinned tomatoes count at the full weight of the tin, because the juice is eaten in the dish. The government's portion table measures tinned food drained, so this is a choice Canoli has made.

If you enter pulses dry, Canoli assumes they weigh 2.5 times as much once cooked.

The government guidance doesn't give weights for triple-concentrated tomato purée or other concentrated purées. The 11.1 g and 40 g in the table above are Canoli's own figures.

"Not checked"

If Canoli can't tell how an ingredient should count, it leaves that ingredient out and tells you how many it couldn't check. The real number could be higher.

Can I put this on my pack?

Treat this number as a guide while you develop a recipe. It isn't a label, and it isn't a government assessment.

Canoli's rules follow the government's 5 A Day guidance. Where that guidance says nothing, or where the IGD best practice guide for mixed foods is stricter, Canoli follows the IGD guide. The IGD guide is industry best practice, not law.

There's no final UK government method for dishes made from several ingredients. The official 5 A Day logo needs a licence and isn't available for mixed foods. Before you make any 5 A Day statement on a pack, check it with your regulatory adviser.