Factors affecting Saudi consumers’ decision to purchase food products containing food labels

Abstract

Food labels are widely attached to food products to help consumers make informed purchase decisions that fit their needs, health condition, or preference. The study aimed at exploring factors that influence consumers’ purchase of food products containing no preservatives label, no artificial colour label, no added sugar label and sugar-free label. The study depended on cross-sectional data that was collected randomly from consumers living in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The binary logistic regression results showed that consumers’ awareness as proxied by reading the product’s ingredients and calories are associated with higher odds of purchasing food products contained in the mentioned food labels. Also, as consumers grow older, their odds of purchasing a sugar-free label and no added sugar label increase. Furthermore, diabetic consumers have two times higher odds of purchasing sugar-free labels and no added sugar labels compared to non-diabetic consumers. Nonetheless, consumers who concentrated on reading product prices were less likely to purchase any of the mentioned food labels.