Consumer Awareness Regarding Food Labelling of Pre-Packaged Foods in Kochi, Kerala

A tremendous surge in the production, sale and consumption of packaged foods has been observed in the last few decades. Food labels are tools for nutrition communication and act as the most effective and direct means of communication between the seller and consumer. A cross-sectional consumer market survey was carried out across four major supermarkets of Ernakulam District to assess data on gender distribution in purchasing pre-packed products, determine the level of awareness with respect to the information provided on labels of packed foods, determine factors affecting the purchasing decision among consumers and assessing the knowledge regarding food laws and symbols. The results indicated that approximately half of the subjects belong to the male and female gender. The subjects reported that they evaluated the food label information with a primary focus on manufacturing date, price and brand. Nutritional Information on the label was not as significant. The factors deterrent the reading of food labels are lack of time and knowledge. The degree of information among study subjects was vastly in the minimally informed category. The results gave a clear indication that label information is sensitive to gender and education and insensitive to the age and occupation of the study subjects.