Attitudes and Behavior of Consumers Related to the Inspection of Food Labels

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out about the attitudes and behavior of Turkish consumers related to their inspection of “food labels”, one of the important elements of food safety, and to increase awareness pertinent to the topic. Upon completion of the field survey, SPSS has been utilized in the statistical analyses of the questionnaires responded to by 500 consumers. Frequency distributions, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal- Wallis tests have been employed for analysis of results. Among the major findings are the following: “Nutrition” information is read less frequently compared to “label” information; the “expiration date”, “production date”, “shelf life”, “name and brand of the product”, and “ingredients” are among the most frequently read label information; food labels are read more in case “the product is new on the market”, “is purchased for the first time or is purchased infrequently”; the most influential reason for non-use of labels is that there is “no need to read labels due to purchase of the same brands, all the time, based on habits and past positive experience”. Of the analyzed demographic variables, differences were encountered only in case of “age” and “education level” with respect to “frequency of label readership”. Findings are evaluated in terms of the State, related institutions, producers-retailers, consumers, and further research, in the last part of the study.