Factors Related to the Reading Nutritional Labels by Consumers

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the features related to consumers’ reading nutritional labels in a city in the interior of the S &#227; o Paulo State, Brazil. A questionnaire was answered by 100 consumers of a supermarket chain, sociodemographic information and data related to label reading habits were collected. Tables with percentage values and bar graphs were used. Chi-square t ests and logistic regression models were performed to verify the association between the variables and the label reading habits. The factors that showed significant associations with the reading labels were gender, ease to understand the labels and access to their information (p < 0.10). People who had already read labels reported to have more difficulty to understand the information contained on them, and people who had already received instructions on the labels were three and a half times more likely to read the instructions contained on them than those who hadn ’ t receive d any guidance. This study points to the need to expand the disclosure to consumers about the contents present on the labels, through more accessible language, so that the labels fulfill their role to instruct consumers in their choices.