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Use and knowledge of food labels of shoppers in a city with a high proportion of heart disease
Author(s) -
Tessier Sophie,
Edwards Christine A.,
Morris Susan Eley
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of consumer studies and home economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 0309-3891
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2737.2000.00121.x
Subject(s) - food labeling , food labelling , marketing , advertising , nutrition facts label , healthy food , food products , food choice , psychology , business , labelling , environmental health , medicine , food science , criminology , pathology , chemistry
This study aimed to assess consumers’ use and understanding of food labelling and the improvements that they would like. Systematically selected supermarket shoppers were interviewed using a questionnaire. Data showed that the use of food labels was low. Among those who read food labels, at least occasionally, use‐by‐date was the most reported information looked at. Understanding of the content of five nutrients on a standard food label provided was poor. Although a high proportion of participants claimed to have no problem with the current format, those who had problems wanted food labels that were ‘bigger’, ‘highlighted’ or written in ‘plain English’. These results suggest that before improved food labels can have an impact on consumers’ food choice, strategies to encourage shoppers to read them are needed.