Impact of Nutritional Education on Consumer Reading and Understanding of Food Labelling

Food labelling helps consumers make well-informed choices when buying and eating food products. This investigation was carried out to study the consumer knowledge of food labelling, the nutrients they consume through foods and to observe the impact of nutritional education on consumer understanding of food labelling. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire containing a set of questions and statements on the awareness of major nutrients and food labelling among 200 consumers from Hisar city. Data were statistically analysed using SPSS software. Results indicated that regarding consumers’ knowledge on recommended daily intake (RDI) of food groups, they were aware of the RDI of cereals (67.5%), milk (95.0%), fruits (49.5%), and nuts (31.0%); however, had no idea of the rest of the food groups. Regarding the label reading practice, it was observed that the majority (65.0%) ofthe respondents never read labels, while 26.5 per cent read labels sometimes. The reading of food labels was significantly associated (p<0.05) with gender and the educational status of the respondents. The majority of them admitted that they refer to food labels while comparing the products (48.6%), during initial purchase (17.1%), and when buying some particular food products, such as infant foods. While regarding reading of labels, they generally read price (83.0%), product net quantity (59.0%), brand name (43.0%), health claim (31.5%), manufacture date (18.0%) best before or expiry date (11.0%), however ingredients panel, nutrition facts panel and standard marks were read by very few of them. Nutritional education on various aspects of food labelling had a high impact in terms of gain in knowledge and change in attitude of the respondents on understanding and reading of various components ofthe food labels.