Query: Understanding and usage of food labels

title: Understanding and Usage of Food Labels among Lebanese Supermarket Shoppers

title: Usage and understanding of food labels among Lebanese shoppers

title: Usage and Understanding of Serving Size Information on Food Labels in the United States
abstract: To investigate consumer understanding and usage of serving size (SS) information on Nutrition Facts (NF) labels.  We analyzed three data sources: (1) U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Health and Diet Survey (HDS) 1994 (n 1945) 1995 (n 1001) and 2008 (n 2584) (2) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005 2006 and 2007 2008 (n 10,750) and (3) 2011 FDA Nutrition Facts Label Experimental Study (NFLES) (n 9493) Data from FDA are cross sectional and we focused on usage and meaning of SS.  United States. Subjects. Adults (18+ years) Measures. Both HDS and NHANES addressed how often participants used SS information and HDS also asked how SS is determined. Both NHANES and NFLES contained similar questions on the meaning of SS but NFLES also included an open ended response option.  We included both quantitative and qualitative measures. Questions were analyzed by demographic variables and body mass index with frequencies, cross tabulations, and kh2 statistics reported.  HDS showed that the percentage of consumers who used SS information often or sometimes increased from 54% in 1994 to 64% in 2008. NHANES and NFLES data indicated that a majority of respondents had misinterpreted the meaning of SS. Women and obese individuals were more likely to use SS often or sometimes, but were also more likely to misinterpret the meaning of SS. A small subsample of NFLES participants expressed a distrust of the SS information.  There is a widespread misunderstanding about SS, suggesting the need for clearer NF labels or enhanced education efforts.

title: Usage and understanding of food and nutritional labels among Indian consumers.
abstract: Nutritional labeling of food products is not mandatory in India at present and the Indian Government is on the verge of introducing a code of conduct for it. The aim of this paper is to provide some initial guidelines for the above said purpose so as to have consumer friendly labeling policies. A structured questionnaire based survey was used for the purpose of the study. A total of 100 respondents were considered for the study. Data were collected from two superstores located in New Delhi. Food labels are read by the consumers for brand comparisons and not for consulting nutritional information. Difficult terminology, small font size and inability to understand nutritional labels are the major problems encountered by the consumers. Television, friends, magazines are commonly used for assessing nutritional information. Labels are considered more consumer friendly when benchmarks regarding serving size are provided. Income level, size of household, number of.

title: Exploring consumer knowledge, understanding and use of food and nutrition label information in the tamale metropolis of Ghana
abstract: The perception that consumers in low Income Countries have poor knowledge and understanding of food or nutrition labels and, therefore, do not rely on them at the point of purchase is rife. This study was aimed at assessing consumer knowledge and understanding and its influence on food label usage in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. An analytical cross sectional study design was employed and mainly literate adults aged 15 to 60 years were conveniently selected and interviewed at various points of purchase including supermarkets, provision shops and other trading outlets. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows (version 19.0) Percentages were calculated and reported for descriptive statistics whilst chi square tests of significance and regression analysis were employed to measure relationships between variables. Statistically significant differences were accepted at p<0.05. Out of the 384 consumers interviewed, 98.4% (n=378) were aware of food labels, yet, only 66.7 (n=256) claimed they understood the labels. A large proportion (95.8% also claimed they checked but just about 51.9% said they did so "always" Most (89.3% claimed they are influenced by key factors on the labels with the level of influence being highest with nutrition content, followed by expiry date, health claim, price and advertisement respectively. However, at the point of purchase most (79.4) revealed they looked out for expiry date. Socio demographic characteristics including gender (p=0.009) age (p=0.017) occupation (p=0.042) educational level (p=0.022) and income (p=0.051) were significantly associated with consumers' understanding of the labels, with gender remaining the only significant predictor. Furthermore, age (p=0.054) occupation (p=0.0.007) and educational level (p<0.001) showed significant associations with food label usage. Education level (Tertiary) emerged the only significant predictor of food label usage. The level of knowledge and use of nutrition information on food packages among predominantly literate consumers in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana can be compared to that of consumers in other parts of the world. These results may inform the need for developing an approach towards future information and education strategies for health professionals and other stakeholders interested in consumer awareness activities.  Nutrition label, food Label, Consumer, Point of purchase, Nutrition information, Tamale

title: Nutrition knowledge, and use and understanding of nutrition information on food labels among consumers in the UK
abstract: Based on in store observations in three major UK retailers, in store interviews (2019) and questionnaires filled out at home and returned (921) use of nutrition information on food labels and its understanding were investigated. Respondents' nutrition knowledge was also measured, using a comprehensive instrument covering knowledge of expert recommendations, nutrient content in different food products, and calorie content in different food products. Across six product categories, 27% of shoppers were found to have looked at nutrition information on the label, with guideline daily amount (GDA) labels and the nutrition grid/table as the main sources consulted. Respondents' understanding of major front of pack nutrition labels was measured using a variety of tasks dealing with conceptual understanding, substantial understanding and health inferences. Understanding was high, with up to 87.5% of respondents being able to identify the healthiest product in a set of three. Differences between level of understanding and level of usage are explained by different causal mechanisms. Regression analysis showed that usage is mainly related to interest in healthy eating, whereas understanding of nutrition information on food labels is mainly related to nutrition knowledge. Both are in turn affected by demographic variables, but in different ways.

title: Consumers' understanding and use of nutrition labels on pre packaged food in Taiyuan
abstract: To study the cognition status and using of pre packaged food nutrition labeling and related knowledge of nutrition in Taiyuan consumers and to provide basis for nutrition education and publicity. A self designed questionnaire included the basic data of respondents,nutrition labeling cognition and usage,nutrition knowledge. Using stratified random sampling method,we surveyed 400 consumers proportionately in 6 districts of Taiyuan city in April to May 2013. The data were collected through residents completing the questionnaire themselves or through being interviewed. Face to face interviews data ensured integrity and met the requirements. And the data was analyzed by SPSS. RESULTS:400 people were interviewed and 390 valid questionnairs returned,including 152 males and 238 females,with the mean age as(35.2+ 14.3) years. Food nutrition label awareness rate was 79.3%;satisfied with the label contents and forms was 83.3%;that nutrition claims and nutrient function claims helpful were 68.7% and 68.3%,respectively;43.3% of consumers always/often read the nutrition facts to understand the nutritional properties of food and suitable diet;61.8% of consumers were willing to change their choice according to the information on nutrition labelling. Logistic regression analysis of factors related to food nutrition labels on food to buy found that consumers who often read the nutrient composition and thought nutrition claims were helpful were more willing to choose according to the label information. Consumers' trust on the nutrition label and understanding degree were low,and on the nutritional label cognition and use level were not high. To enable consumers to practically use nutrition label to achieve a rational diet,we should increase publicity and education on consumers to use nutrition labels.

title: Self reported use and understanding of food label information among tertiary education students in Ghana
abstract: Food packaging labels attract consumers' attention in stores and market areas, and communicates relevant food safety and nutrition information that allows them to distinguish between food product alternatives. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess consumers' self reported use, knowledge and understanding of food labels among tertiary students in Ghana. A validated questionnaire was used to recruit 1478 students from fourteen (14) public tertiary institutions across the 10 regions to collect information on demographic characteristics of respondents, usage and understanding of information provided on food labels, using proportional quota and convenience sampling techniques. The majority of respondents 956 (64.7% were between the ages of 21 and 30. A total of 463 (31.3% students read food label 'very often' while 892 (60.4% read food labels 'sometimes' While 963 (65.2% of respondents indicated that information on food labels are very important, 934 (63.2% still believe that food label information are often not credible. Respondents considered expiring date 1269 (85.9% date of manufacture 1106 (74.8% and health warning 1097 (74.2% as the top three very important information on food labels whereas product value/weight, 654 (44.2% was considered as least important in choosing particular food products. Respondents generally depend on television programs/advertisement, 1349 (91.3% internets, 1290 (87.3% and friends and neighbors, 1213 (82.1% as sources of knowledge regarding food label information. When participants were provided with a sample food label to assess their understanding of food label information, 916 (62.0% of respondents did not answer the question at all. Out of 562 (38% who answered the question, only 243 (16.5% correctly interpreted the information. No significant difference (P 0.05) exist between ages, sexes, institutions, and university and training college students regarding their understanding of food label information. Eventhough tertiary education students in Ghana read and attach importance to food label information, they have limited understanding of the information provided on food labels.

title: Understanding and use of food package nutrition label among educated young adults
abstract: Nutrition information on food labels has become one of the major components included in Malaysian Dietary Guideline in order to promote healthy dietary habits among Malaysians. This study was aimed to assess the understanding on nutrition label information and ability to perform common nutrition label task and to explore the extent of nutrition label usage as well as the reason associated with the intensity of label used among educated young adults. Cross sectional study conducted by distributing 357 self administered questionnaires among students in UiTM Puncak Alam and only 295 returned (response rate 82.6% The questionnaires collected information of demographics, nutrition knowledge and understanding, nutrition label task, item used on nutrition label and the reason of nutrition label use. The mean ages are 21+ 1.745 which most of the respondent currently study at degree (73.9% and diploma (26.1% level. The nutrition knowledge means score 12.08+ 4.287 where about 37.6% have low knowledge and only 30.5% have good knowledge. In nutrition label task section, majority of the subjects (69.5% unable to perform resulting in mean score 0.94+ 1.097. The most item used on food labels are ingredient list (78.3% while percent daily value information are the least use (56.5% by the subjects. More than half (53.6% of the subjects do not use the nutrition label mainly because they do not understand the terms on the label (32.4% In contrast, the label user uses the label to assess specific nutrient content of the food (38.4% The level of nutrition knowledge is significantly associated with performance on nutrition label task (p=<0.001) where high proportion of subject with low nutrition knowledge unable to perform the nutrition label task. In conclusion, this study found that there is low understanding of nutrition knowledge and use of nutrition label among young adults.

title: Food label reading and understanding in parts of rural and urban Zimbabwe.
abstract: Overweight and obesity prevalence is rapidly rising in developing countries. The reading and understanding of nutrition information on food packages has been shown to improve food choices and instill healthy eating habits in individuals.  The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of food label usage and understanding among urban and rural adults in Zimbabwe and its association with demographic and socio economic factors.  A cross sectional study was conducted on 320 adults (147 urban and 173 rural) using a validated questionnaire adapted from previous similar studies. Data were analysed using SPSS 17 statistical software.  A high proportion (77.2% of the respondents read food labels. Food label reading differed significantly by educational status (p 0.05) employment status (p 0.05) and locality (p 0.05) Only 40.9% of food label readers mostly understood the information on the food labels. More urban shoppers (86.1% read food labels than their rural counterparts (66.7% A significant number of participants (80.6% indicated they would like to be educated on the meaning of food labels and 80.3% preferred the nutrition information on food labels to be simplified.  The study found above average reported reading of nutrition information on food labels with partial understanding. Efforts should be made to determine how all consumers could be made to understand the nutrition information on food labels and use it effectively in decision making.