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Global Survey Reveals Food Label Habits
Half the world's consumers understand nutritional labels on food packaging only 'in part', although two in 10 'always' check grocery labels, and four in 10 do so when buying a product for the first time, according to a new study from ACNielsen.
The survey polled over 21,100 respondents in 38 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America and South Africa. It found that, on average, two in ten consumers 'always' check the nutritional labels on packaging. Latin Americans were the most label-minded, with a third claiming to 'always' check labels, compared with only 18% of Europeans. The most likely occasion for checking, for an average of four in 10 consumers worldwide, was when trying a product for the first time.
Globally, the ingredients most likely to be checked were fat (49% check this regularly), calories (43%), sugar (42%), preservatives (40%), colouring and additives (36% each). Consumers in North America and Latin America topped the list for checking fat, calorie and sugar levels, while just 24% of Americans check preservatives, and only 16% check for colourings. In Italy, by contrast, 56% of consumers regularly check for preservatives and colouring yet only 30% check for calories. Similarly, across Asia Pacific, preservatives (47%) gained most attention from shoppers, followed by fat (45%), colouring (43%), additives (42%), and calories (42%).
Several other market-specific findings are noteworthy: 60% of Mexicans regularly check fat content, 62% of Brazilians check for calories, and over 60% of Chinese consumers check additives, preservatives and colouring.
Whatever the level of checking, consumers don't always understand what they're reading. Half of the world's consumers said they only 'partly' understand the nutritional labels on food. North Americans were most confident, with 64% claiming to 'mostly' understand labels. Meanwhile, only 6% of Italian respondents indicated such an understanding.
Across the globe, 56% of shoppers claimed to know the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat. The Norwegians (82%) were most knowledgeable followed by the French (69%), Taiwanese (63%) and Chinese (61%).
The latest diet craze, the glycemic index (GI), registered for only 11 percent of consumers when checking labels. 59 percent said they had not heard of GI, though this varied massively - from 82% in Australia and 35% in the US to just 11% in Japan and the Netherlands.
Alice Fawver, Senior VP, Retail Measurement Services at ACNielsen, commented on the findings: 'Food labels represent an important opportunity for manufacturers to differentiate their products and build consumer trust, but the opportunities are lost if labels aren't being read. This survey shows a lot of potential for getting consumers involved in using product labels.'
The findings come from ACNielsen's Online Consumer Confidence Survey, which gauges confidence levels along with spending habits and intentions. It polled more than 21,100 respondents in 38 markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA. All markets had sample sizes of approximately 500, except for China, France, Germany, UK and USA, which had sample sizes of approximately 1,000.
An overview of the survey is online at www.acnielsen.com .
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