Consumer Knowledge about Food Labeling and Fraud.

Juan García-Díez,Cristina Saraiva,José M M M De Almeida,Maria João Moreira

doi:10.3390/foods10051095

Abstract

Food fraud is a growing problem and happens in many ways including mislabelling. Since lack of consumers’ knowledge about mandatory food labeling information and different types of food fraud may impact public health, the present work assesses consumers’ knowledge about these issues. Principal component analysis was performed to obtain a smaller number of uncorrelated factors regarding the usefulness and confidence of information displayed in food labels and the perception of food fraud. Results indicated that information displayed in food labels is useful, however the way it is presented may decrease consumer interest and understanding. Regarding respondents’ confidence in foodstuffs, over half of them stated that information provided in food labels is reliable. However, a lack of confidence about food composition is observed in those processed foodstuffs such as meat products. Food fraud is recognized by more than half of respondents with a higher perception of those practices that imply a risk to public health than those related to economic motivation. Age and education of consumers influenced the perception of the information displayed in the food labels, their confidence and knowledge about food fraud. Implementation of education programs to increase consumer knowledge about food labelling and fraud is essential. Respondents’ perception results could be use as guidelines by the food industry to improve food label design in order to enhance consumer understanding.

Highlights

New consumers’ issues related food safety have emerged in recent years related to aspects such as ingredients, allergens, chemical additives, food processes or health impact associated with long-term consumption among others [1]
The recent food fraud scandals, due to mislabeling practices, have increased consumer distrust in the food industry since information displayed on food labels does not reflect the real characteristics declared [15]
Our study showed that overall information is useful for respondents specific mentions such as information located on the back of the package, symbols or proper description of food products seem to be not useful enough

Summary

Introduction

New consumers’ issues related food safety have emerged in recent years related to aspects such as ingredients, allergens, chemical additives, food processes or health impact associated with long-term consumption among others [1]. The indication of specific mentions such as ingredients, intended use, batch number, shelf-life and storage conditions are essential to guarantee food safety. Since food labeling influence consumers’ preferences at the time of purchase [3], consumers are advised to read the information displayed on labels to verify if the products meet their preferences and/or are adapted to specific nutrition programs (e.g., vegetarians) or adapted to specific health conditions (i.e., diabetics) [4]. Some studies assess consumers’ perception about nutritional labeling [5,6]. Scarce research addresses the opinion and perception of consumers about the compulsory mentions displayed in food packages [7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion