Evaluating College Student's Comprehension of the New Food Label, Nutrition Facts.

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To compare comprehension of new food labels of college students prior to and after their participation in a type of food labeling education.This study was undertaken to compare comprehension of the new food label of two groups of college students prior to and after their participation in one of two types of food labeling education. The sample consisted of 168 students enrolled in HUMR 101, Orientation and Management, at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. The instrument employed in this study was a questionnaire developed by the researcher after a similar questionnaire employed in a previous study. Chi-square analysis was used to analyze data.Data revealed that 62% of the sample scored 70% or better on the pretest and can be considered knowledgeable about the new food label., Comparable to the 1979 Jacoby et al study where 51 % of the sample demonstrated understanding, these results suggest an increase in comprehension of the new food label. Analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant improvement in student comprehension of the new food label after exposure to education. However, the data was not significant in indicating one form of education as more effective than another, education seminar verses printed literature. The experience gained by the researcher, however, suggests that seminars provide a very important avenue of interaction.This study revealed that questions which required calculation were frequently missed. Also, percent daily values were frequently targeted as areas of confusion. This is an important implication for educators to direct more attention to these areas.The results were not statistically significant to identify any academic major performing better than another. The label was frequently reported as easier to understand and the serving sizes were frequently reported as unrealistic.