Make Healthy Food & Grocery Choices

Healthier food choices made easy. Simply look out for the Healthier Choice Symbol and Healthier Dining Program identifiers for healthy food and grocery options.

Resources

Pick up useful tips and hacks on adopting healthierfood options when dining out and grocery shopping.

Nutri-Grade mark

The Nutri-Grade mark helps you understand the sugar and saturated fat content in your drinks, from Grade A being the lowest to Grade D being the highest.

Why was the Nutri-Grade mark developed?

High sugar intake is linked to an increased risk of obesity and diabetes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends reducing sugar intake for better health. However, Singapore residents, on average, consume 12 teaspoons (or 60g) of sugar daily, with drinks contributing to more than half of our daily sugar intake. This exceeds WHO’s recommended daily sugar intake of 10 teaspoons (or 50g).

In addition to sugar, saturated fat is often added to drinks to improve their “mouth-feel”. Consuming a high amount of saturated fat can impair insulin action1, increasing the risk of diabetes.

Why was the Nutri-Grade mark developed?

The Ministry of Health (MOH), together with the Health Promotion Board (HPB), have introduced the Nutri-Grade mark to help consumers make more informed and healthier drink choices. It is mandatory for all drinks that are graded Nutri-Grade C or D to be labelled accordingly. This includes packaged drinks, those dispensed from automated drink dispensers, and freshly prepared drinks (starting from 30 December 20232). Advertising is prohibited for Nutri-Grade D drinks with high sugar and saturated fat content.

1UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Health: Saturated fats and health (2018); Meyer et al. (2001); Riserus, Willet and Hu
2Smaller food businesses are exempted from the mandatory labelling if they (a) earn a revenue of not more than S$1 million in the latest financial year, and (b) sell or supply those drinks at fewer than 10 food premises.

How to read the Nutri-Grade mark?

Nutri-Grade is a nutrition label that adopts a colour-coded system with four grades. Grade A, represented in green, indicates the lowest amounts of sugar and saturated fat.

Drinks graded Nutri-Grade C or D must be labelled with a Nutri-Grade mark on the front of packaged drinks and on menus, posters, signs and other materials. On the other hand, labelling of the Nutri-Grade mark is optional for drinks graded Nutri-Grade A or B, but manufacturers and F&B operators are encouraged to do so to help consumers make informed choices.

How to read the Nutri-Grade mark?The Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) and Healthier Dining Programme (HDP) guidelines are aligned with the Nutri-Grade grading system. All healthier choice drinks are Nutri-Grade A or B. Drinks may carry only the Nutri-Grade A or B mark, the healthier choice identifier, or both. There may also be Nutri-Grade A or B drinks without any identifiers, as manufacturers and F&B operators can opt out of participating in HCS or HDP, and displaying the optional “A” or “B” mark.

Sugar

The sugar content of a drink is indicated on the label as a percentage of the total volume. Sugar levels can be compared within the same grade to help with your purchasing decision. Toppings (such as pearls, jellies, ice-cream, whipped cream, etc), that can be added to freshly prepared drinks must have their sugar content declared on menus, posters, signs and other materials (starting from 30 December 2023).

Nutri-grade examples

Saturated Fat

The saturated fat content of a drink is also a grading factor for Nutri-Grade drinks. If a drink is graded “B” based on sugar content but “C” based on saturated fat content, the final grade will take the poorer “C” grade.

Healthier Choice Symbol

Choosing healthier groceries

Shopping for healthier food choices? Just look out for the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS). The HCS can be found on the packaging of more than 4,000 different products across over 100 food and beverage categories - such as convenience meals, sauces, drinks, snacks and breakfast cereals. HCS makes it easier to find healthier choice products when we’re out shopping!

Healthier choice symbol

Make the healthier choice today!

As compared to regular products within the same category, products carrying the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) are generally higher in wholegrains, calcium, and lower in sodium, sugar, and saturated fat.

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When we are shopping

Nutrition Information Panel

How do we use the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP)?

The NIP can help us make healthier food choices by showing us the amount of nutrients we are getting out of each serving of food.

Understanding the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP)
As the serving sizes of these two products differ, comparing them using the “per serving” values would be inaccurate.
  • We can make a fair comparison only by using values in the “per 100g” column.
  • Bread A contains lower fat, lower saturated fat, and higher dietary fibre than Bread B. Thus it is a healthier choice compared to Bread B.
Here’s a sample NIP for a pack of dried apricots:
Understanding the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP)
Understanding the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP)

If we are planning to eat a whole pack of dried apricots, we would be eating 4 servings.

Understanding the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP)

The calorie content is 106 kcal per serving, so the calorie intake for the entire packet would be 106 kcal x 4 servings = 424 kcal

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Compare our nutritional intake against the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) to check if we are eating the optimal portions for our health.

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Healthier Dining Programme

Choosing healthier meals

Whether we are eating out, ordering takeaway or a delivery, there is a variety of healthier and delicious meals for our enjoyment.

Look out for healthier choice identifiers at hawker centres, restaurants, cafes, kiosks, and many more!

Learn More List of Partners

Recommended Reads:

Tips on cooking wholegrains

Tips on Cooking Wholegrains

Learn More
How to choose the correct cooking oil

How to Choose the Correct Cooking Oil

Learn More
Restaurant Guide to Healthier Eating

Restaurant Guide to Healthier Eating

Learn More

Useful tools

Sodium Calculator

We consume nearly twice the sodium* we need. This leads to health risks such as hypertension, heart failure and stroke.

Check your sodium intake with our calculator to ensure you’re within the daily recommended amount of 2,000 mg.

Find out your daily sodium intake

Sodium Calculator Start Calculating

*Sodium is a mineral that is found in salt and also occurs naturally in foods

Healthy 365 Meal Log Tool

Track your daily calorie intake easily with the Meal Log tool on the Healthy 365 app and understand your eating habits over time. You can then make necessary changes to improve your diet or achieve your weight management goals.

Start tracking your daily calorie intake

Meal log tool Download The User Guide

Nutri-Grade A and B Drinks

Explore the list of drink options that are lower in sugar and saturated fats.

Nutri-Grade A and B drinks

Nutri-grade View List

Food Energy and Nutrient Composition

Food Energy and Nutrient Composition

Search for the energy and nutrient composition of basic ingredients and common local food.

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