Healthy Food Selection: The Role of Nutritional Information of Packaged Foods on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions

Abstract

India is the world's second largest producer of food next to China and has the potential of being the largest food producer in the world. The food processing industry is the fifth largest industry in India in terms of production, consumption, export, and expected growth. Among the various sectors of the food-processing industry, the ready to eat food products industry is growing at the fastest pace of 30 % p.a. There are nearly 100 international, national, and local players already operating in the industry, and equal numbers of players are likely to enter in the market in the coming years due to its huge growth potential. Ready to eat food products being products of low involvement category, a little differentiation exists among the products produced by various players of the industry so as to differentiate their products. To differentiate their products, one of the most prominent tools used in the industry is packaging. The companies make use of various packaging elements to differentiate their products. This study was undertaken to analyze the influence of nutritional information provided on the packages of ready to eat food products on the product evaluation and buying behavior of consumers in Rajkot.