Consumer Knowledge about Food Labeling and Fraud

Abstract

Food fraud is a growing problem and happens in many ways including mislabelling. Since lack of consumers’ knowledge about mandatory food labeling information and different types of food fraud may impact public health, the present work assesses consumers’ knowledge about these issues. Principal component analysis was performed to obtain a smaller number of uncorrelated factors regarding the usefulness and confidence of information displayed in food labels and the perception of food fraud. Results indicated that information displayed in food labels is useful, however the way it is presented may decrease consumer interest and understanding. Regarding respondents’ confidence in foodstuffs, over half of them stated that information provided in food labels is reliable. However, a lack of confidence about food composition is observed in those processed foodstuffs such as meat products. Food fraud is recognized by more than half of respondents with a higher perception of those practices that imply a risk to public health than those related to economic motivation. Age and education of consumers influenced the perception of the information displayed in the food labels, their confidence and knowledge about food fraud. Implementation of education programs to increase consumer knowledge about food labelling and fraud is essential. Respondents’ perception results could be use as guidelines by the food industry to improve food label design in order to enhance consumer understanding.