Survey on the behavior and attitude of nutrition labels by Chengdu fast food and light meal takeaway merchants

Abstract

Learn about the view, cognition, willingness and attitude of the employees of Chengdu fast food takeaway business on nutrition labels and their attitude towards labeling nutrition labels on takeaway meals. Using a multi-stage random sampling method, five districts were randomly selected in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, and two streets were randomly selected in each of the selected districts, and the questionnaire was administered on a one-to-one basis. A total of 834 chefs and caterers were surveyed in the fast food, simple meals category of takeaway businesses. The rate of viewing the nutrition labels on pre-packaged food by chefs and catering staff in takeaway businesses was 48. 07%, and the viewing rate was increasing with the improvement of education(χ~2=15. 379, P=0. 001). The mastery rate of nutrition label knowledge was 15. 08%, which was different for different ages(χ~2=6. 072, P=0. 048). The mastery rate of men(18. 72%) was higher than that of women(9. 91%)(χ~2=12. 193, P<0. 001), and that of chefs(18. 01%) was higher than that of catering staff(12. 88%)(χ~2=4. 172, P=0. 041). The nutritional label understanding intention of the subjects was 28. 10%, and the difference of willingness to know about nutrition label-related knowledge was statistically significant in different age groups(χ~2=6. 183, P=0. 045). The respondents' viewing of nutrition labels was associated with willingness to understand, with a Person coefficient of contingency of 0. 104. The proportion of supporting nutrition labels on takeaway meals was 56. 69%. There were statistically significant differences in attitudes towards nutrition labels on takeaway food packages among respondents of different age groups, gender, education, working years and whether they were chain stores(χ~2=21. 445, 8. 675, 14. 684, 12. 198, 25. 852, P<0. 05). The take-out industry chefs and catering staff have insufficient review rate and mastery of nutrition labels, and their willingness to understand nutrition labels is not high.