Consumer behaviour towards food label in Alexandria city markets

ABSTRACT

People want to know what is in their food. Surveys show that very high proportions of people believe it is important to find nutrition information on food packages. So the purpose of this study aimed to identify the percentage of food label on food packages and types of information. It aimed also to study consumer's practices and behavior towards food label. In addition the most acceptable form of food label for consumers. A check list was used to identify the percentage of food label on food packages and types of information on it. The data were collected from 650 consumers chosen randomly from different supermarkets in Alexandria city by using a questionnaire; the data were analyzed by using SAS program, qui square, frequency, and percentage. The survey showed that, food labels were found on some products but without nutrition facts and absent from others. The interviewed sample showed that, 64.9% female, 56.8% were between [31-45] years old, 63.8% were married and 76% were highly educated. Newspaper, television, and food labeling were the mainly information sources for consumers, representing 72%, 65.4%, 49.4% respectively. The percentage of consumers interested in reading expire date, origin, ingredients, commercial name, and price were 92.3%, 51.5%, 40.9%, 40.3%, and 34.2% respectively. It was found that 50.8% of consumers always concern about reading information on food label, and 87.8% don't buy the products in case of absence of label or enough information. Also it was found that, there was highly significant relationship between gender, age, education, and consumer's practices and behaviors towards food label It was concluded that there must be a nutrition education program to raise awareness of consumers towards food label and food choice