Ask average shoppers the fat content of the potato chips they are buying, or how many milligrams of pantothenic acid they need each day.

They are not likely to know.

The need to make such information accessible to the buying public has prompted Barbara Shannon, professor of nutrition, to question the effectiveness of nutrition information labels placed on food products.

"They could be improved upon," Shannon said. "We've come a long way in educating about nutrition . . . I think better labels would help even more."

Advice to assist consumers in structuring a proper diet can also come from other sources, including "point-of-purchase" programs or information presented to consumers while they are shopping, she added.

Such a program is available at Giant Food Store, 255 Clinton Ave., where a TV monitor in the produce section explains the sodium and caloric contents of produce and teaches ways to be a wiser produce buyer.

The monitor was introduced in response to consumer letters asking for more nutritional information, said Bob Salvatori, grocery manager at the store.

"We still get letters, but now they're favorable ones. They like what we're doing," Salvatori said.

Dietary advice can also come from cues such as single-word messages, shelf labels or symbols such as the heart logo on menus, Shannon said.

Such cues would definitely help in food selection, said Renee Rusinko, an elementary education major at Philadelphia's Holy Family College, shopping at McLanahan's, 414 E. College Ave.

While Rusinko said she pays attention to calories and fat content, she admits she does not concern herself with vitamin amounts or ingredient lists. She probably would, however, if the information were summed up with a few key words, she said.

Shannon cautioned that while simple phrases such as 'no cholesterol' may aid the buyer in food choice, they may also be dangerous if not followed up with additional information.

" 'No cholesterol' doesn't mean 'eating this will reduce your risk of heart disease.' Excess calories from any one source is hazardous," Shannon said.

Although the phrases 'low-cal' and 'low sodium' have specific levels associated with them, many other phrases such as 'light,' 'low fat' and 'high energy' have no regulations and so can mean different things on different products, said Eugene Schultz, compliance officer for the Philadelphia district of the Food and Drug Administration.

Current FDA policy forces only certain types of products to offer nutritional content information, Schultz said. Any product labeled with a descriptive phrase, such as 'light' or 'low-cal', must provide this information. But all products must include an ingredient list on the label, he said.

"There is a change pending in this policy," Schultz said. "New regulations are being proposed that would require all products to have nutrition-level information."

Proposed policy changes result from the buying public's feedback, he said. If the proposal is adopted, consumers may still have to wait at least two years for results, Schultz said.

In the meantime, Shannon offers two pieces of advice for health-conscious shoppers.

"It's simple, and people are probably sick of hearing it, but eat a wide variety of foods . . . and of course the right amount of calories to maintain your ideal body weight."