CONSUMER AWARENESS OF NUTRITION INFORMATION ON FOOD PACKAGE LABELS

Consumer awareness of nutrition information on food labels was evaluat ed by probing the reported importance, understanding and use of ingred ient lists, claims and nutrition panels. As part of a larger study, 82 0 in-home interviews were conducted with principal grocery shoppers (8 0% women, 20% men) in five cities across Canada. Seventy percent of re spondents considered nutrition to hc ''very'' or ''extremely'' importa nt in their food choices. Sixty-four percent claimed to read food pack age labels for nutrition information; 71% did so when choosing between products in the store. Respondents reported only minor variations in the importance, understanding or usability between ingredient lists (8 2- 77- 78%). claims (78- 83- 75%) or nutrition panel (74- 71- 70%), re spectively. Complexity was the greatest barrier to ingredient list and panel usability; credibility was the main barrier to claims use. Fren ch-speaking respondents reported greater importance, usability and und erstanding of all three components than English-speaking respondents. Fifty-nine percent of respondents did not want additional nutrition in formation on food labels; 26% suggested improvements to enhance unders tanding of what is already there. Approximately half of consumers indi cated they would find nutrition information useful for meat, eggs and fresh produce. Further study is needed into whether actual product sel ection mirrors reported awareness.