Assessing consumer awareness and usage of food labels and influences on food buying behavior

Symposium ID: 285 Assessing Consumer Awareness and Usage of Food Labels and Influences on Food Buying Behavior Sushil Kumar Centre for Food and Agribusiness Management Indian Institute of Management Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow - 226013, Uttar Pradesh (India) Phone 91-522-2736987 (O) Fax 91-522-2734027/25 Email: sushil@iiml.ac.in and Jabir Ali Indian Institute of Management Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow - 226013, Uttar Pradesh (India) Phone 91-522-2736978 (O) Fax 91-522-2734027/25 Email: jabirali@iiml.ac.in Corresponding author: Email: sushil@iiml.ac.in Tel +91 522 2736987; Fax: +91 522 2734027 Prepared for presentation at 21st Annual IFAMA World Forum and Symposium on the Road to 2050: Sustainability as a Business Opportunity, Frankfurt, Germany during June 20-23, 2011 Assessing Consumer Awareness and Usage of Food Labels and Influences on Food Buying Behavior Abstract Food regulations and increased consumer awareness are forcing food companies across the world to display more and more information on packaged food products However, little is known about consumer response to such information in emerging economies Using data from a questionnaire survey conducted among 373 respondents across three major cities in India, the study assesses the level of awareness about five categories of information generally displayed on food labels The study also examines the usability of such information in purchase decisions of the respondents The level of awareness and the purchase decisions are compared across different socio-economic groups It is found that Indian consumers in these three cities are fairly aware of the information provided on the food labels; though the level of awareness about different types of information varies The results indicate that particular category of information is used more by the consumers while purchasing packaged food products Differences across different socio-economic groups are also significant in many cases The results have very strong implications for regulatory authorities as well as the food companies Keywords: Food labels; consumer awareness; buying behavior; India Target Audience: Management scholars and management practitioners Assessing Consumer Awareness and Usage of Food Labels and Influences on Food Buying Behavior Executive Summary Information disclosure on food products is a critical aspect due largely to stringent regulatory regimes and food companies spend hefty sums of money on making this information available to the customers In order for such information to get converted into knowledge, consumers should be able to comprehend this information and make informed choices while buying different food products Present study tries to assess the awareness of consumers about information provided on food labels, by undertaking a survey among 373 consumers in three major cities in India The study further tries to examine whether consumers make use of such information in making purchase decisions It is found that consumers in India possess satisfactory level of awareness about different types of information on the food labels displayed on packaged food products, however, usage of such information as one of the criteria while purchasing packaged food product is relatively low They also have very strong preference for brand and the taste of the product This preference makes them purchase a packaged food item even though it may not meet their criteria of healthy food or may contain some harmful ingredients Hence, it becomes very essential for authorities to keep a thorough check on food processing companies as to what they put into in the market At the same time big processing companies with established brand names in the market, need to be very conscious of their responsibility when introducing new products in the market The results give a clear indication that label information is generally gender and age insensitive though its use assumes significance with the income levels, education and occupation of the consumers Most lifestyle products such as breakfast cereals, readymade dressings etc that would mostly be used by people who have relatively higher levels of income and education would pay more attention to various kinds of label information Assessing Consumer Awareness and Usage of Food Labels and Influences on Food Buying Behavior Introduction Food product labeling, as policy tool for ensuring provision of nutrition and health information to consumers and as product differentiation strategy by food companies, has gained importance in the recent past across the globe (Kim, Nayga and Capps, 2001; Marks, 1984) Recent concerns with food safety (e.g., BSE and Biotechnology) have resulted in increased demand for regulatory pressures directed at labeling the ingredients, processing methods, and nutritional content of foods Trend towards healthier and wellness food has also led to consumer demand for “more detailed, accurate, and accessible” nutritional information on the packaged food (Abbott, 1997) Consequently, nation states across the globe have come out with legal regulations which require mandatory nutrition labeling of packaged food products The food labels act as a signaling mechanism by which food companies assure their potential consumers regarding their sound quality control practices However, there are many issues and questions related to food labeling One such question that has been raised across continents is how far the consumers are aware of food labels and can they comprehend the information provided on the labels Further, how far the aware consumers take into consideration food label information while making purchase decisions? These questions are very pertinent in today’s business environment when food companies are coming under stringent regulatory pressures to disseminate correct and appropriate information regarding food items These labeling regulations essentially reflect response to consumer’s right to know the content and nutrition of a particular food product The objective of these regulations is to provide consistent, understandable, and usable labels that can help consumers make informed and healthier food choices (Nayga 1996) Most legal regulations concerning food product labeling are conceived and implemented on the basic premise that dissemination of information in greater quantities and details will facilitate consumers in making better brand choice decisions (McCullough and Best, 1980) This basic premise is in turn based on the assumption that consumers are aware of the information being provided on the product label Further, policy interventions regarding mandatory disclosure of food product information also assume that consumers can comprehend and interpret the information on the food label However, all these assumptions have been questioned by various researchers (e.g., McCullough and Best, 1980) In the context of emerging economies, very little is known regarding consumers’ expectations and their response to food label information (Wang et al., 2008) India, one of the dominant emerging economies, is witnessing unprecedented boom in the organized retail growth Indian consumers are in the process of changing their consumption/buying behavior especially with respect to food items Consumption of processed and packaged food items has grown tremendously in the recent past Demand for healthy and wellness food is also on rise With the change in lifestyle and consumption pattern, food safety standards are becoming important from public policy perspective as well as from food companies’ perspective For commercial interests, food safety and transparency in dissemination of related information is a factor that contributes to brand equity when marketing food products to consumers in India Compliance to any legal regulations, in this case mandatory food labeling, has a cost attached to it, which either the food company has to bear leading to lowering of its cost competitive advantage or it is passed on to the customer making the food product costlier The expenditure on labeling will be of use only if consumers are aware of and are able to understand, comprehend and make their purchase decisions based partially on the information given on the label In order to maximize benefits from implementation of emerging policy tools in the field of food product labeling and also voluntary disclosure on the part of food companies, it is imperative to assess the level of awareness among Indian consumers towards such information and how far the information influences their purchase decisions in the marketplace Policy makers and researchers have not paid adequate attention to this issue in the context of Indian food market Therefore, the present study proposes to fill this gap by exploring level of awareness among Indian consumers regarding content and nutritional information on food product labels The study also attempts to examine demographic and socio-economic differences with regard to awareness The outcomes of the study will help Indian policy makers and food companies to understand the complexity of issues involved in food labeling and design strategies to maximize benefits from resources spent on food labeling This paper is structured as follows Section provides basic premise of the study and discusses the existing regulatory framework with regard to food labeling in India Data collection and analytical methodology is discussed in Section followed by results and their discussion in Section Finally, we conclude with policy implications of the results in Section Background Food labels act as signaling mechanism by which consumers can get assurances on the food quality standards Information provided on food labels can influence buying behavior of the consumers Several studies have demonstrated a link between the use of food labels and a dietary intake of the respondents Kim et al (2000), in comparing the difference in nutrient intakes of consumers when they did and did not use food labels, discovered that using food labels decreased the consumer’s percentage of total calories In order to ensure provision of accurate and reliable information on content and nutrition of packaged food, the regulations in the Indian context have focused more on voluntary disclosure of information on food labels, but with the coming of the Food Safety Standards Act 2006, which is yet to be implemented, the guidelines on labeling As per these guidelines all packaged food products need to adhere to- that labels borne by them shall not contain any statement, claim, design or device which is false or misleading about the food products contained in that package or concerning the quantity or the nutritive value implying medicinal or therapeutic claims or in relation to the place of origin of the said food products Further, every business operator shall ensure that the labeling and presentation of food, including shape, appearance or packaging, the packing materials used, the manner in which they are arranged and the setting in which they are displayed, and the information which is made available about them through whatever medium, does not mislead consumers received from fat and saturated fat A similar study that focused on the effect of the new nutrition label established in 1994 found that in 1995 individuals who used the food label most often were about 32% more likely to eat a diet low in fat than individuals who said they only sometimes used the label (Finke, 2000) A study of Washington State residents also found that, even when controlling for other influential variables, there was a significant relationship between label use and decreased fat intake (Neuhouser et al., 1999) Weaver and Finke (2003) model the effectiveness of the current nutrition label as a means of reducing the proportion of calories from added sugars in diets among respondents to the1994–96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals Results show a significant relationship between frequent use of sugar information on the label and reduced added sugar density, suggesting that labeling is effective as a means of assisting consumers to moderate sugar consumption Many studies in the context of industrialized nations indicate significant demographic and socio-economic differences with regard to consumer awareness and the use of information provided on food labels (Food Marketing Institute, 1989; Bender and Derby, 1992; Wandel, 1997) For example, the study of Wandel (1995) shows that women, the highly educated and those who are on special diets, tend to read the food labels to a greater extent than others (c.f Wandel, 1997) Many investigators have also found that the interest in reading the food labels increases with age up to the mid-fifties, and thereafter it declines The typical food label reader is reported to be a middle-aged woman with high education (Wandel, 1995) Similarly, an empirical study of Nayga (1996) in the US shows that males are less likely to read labels; people with some college education are more likely to read labels and use the information; people on special diets have a higher probability of using food labels; consumers residing in metros are more likely to use and read labels than those living in non-metros etc Guthrie et al (1995) in their study on nutrition label report that 71% of main meal planners admit using the nutrition labels at least “sometimes.” They further report that women were more likely than men to read nutrition labels Other characteristics which were found to have relationship with label use included education, previous nutrition knowledge, and concerns over food safety Studies have also been done to evaluate the positive effect of label use on consumers’ diets The same study by Guthrie et al (1995) showed that meal planners who used food labels had diets lower in cholesterol and higher in Vitamin Sampling, Location and Data Collection In order to collect data on people’s awareness and the attention they pay to different categories of information displayed on food labels while making purchase of packaged food items, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted across three major cities in northern India: Lucknow, Delhi and Kanpur The questionnaire consisted of statements aimed to elicit different dimensions of respondent’s awareness about food labels and how far he/she uses this information in choosing different brands of packaged food products Respondents views on following types of information provided on labels were collected: • • • List of ingredients or contents of the food Short phrases about the food characteristics such as low fat, low cholesterol etc Nutrition panel giving information on proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, calories etc per serving • • Information about the size of serving Statements regarding health benefits from the food The selected cities provided a convenient sampling location both in terms of number and the variety of respondents Delhi is the capital city of India in addition to being a metropolitan Lucknow and Kanpur too are mini metros Respondents for the survey were selected using convenient sampling technique The survey was carried out in places where there was some kind of food retail presence (both organized and unorganized) such as in market places, near shopping malls etc However, care was taken to ensure coverage of different socio-economic and demographic groups of customers On the whole, 373 responses were collected: 36% from Kanpur, 35% from Delhi, and remaining 29% from Lucknow Results and Discussion Table shows salient socio-demographic characteristics of the sample covered in the survey Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of the Sample Socio-Demographics Percent Gender Male 64% Female 36% Frequency of purchasing Packaged Food More than once a week 32% Once a week 12% Once a month 16% Occasionally 40% Age groups 18 to 25 years 13% 26-35 years 26% 36-45 years 22% 46-55 years 23% 55-65 years 11% More than 65 years 05% Annual income (INR) Less than 1,00,000 14% 1,00,000 - 2,49,999 38% 2,50,000 - 4,99,999 35% 5,00,000 - 7,99,999 10% 8,00,000 and above 03% Level of education Up to high school 14% Some college 10% College graduate 32% Masters degree and above 44% Majority of the respondents (64%) were males Of 373 respondents 32% buy packaged food more than once a week, 12% at least once a week and other 16% once a month There were around 40% respondents who said that they purchased packaged food occasionally Sample covered almost all age groups: 18 to 25 years (13%); 26-35 years (26%); 36-45 years (22%); 46-55 years (23%); 55-65 years (11%); and more than 65 years (5%) Around 38% had annual income between Rs 1,00,000 and 2,49,999, 35% between Rs 2,50,000 and 4,99,999, and 10% between Rs 5,00,000 and 7,99,999 Of the remaining respondents 14% had an annual income which was below Rs 1,00,000 and 3% whose annual income was above Rs 8,00,000 In the questionnaire survey, respondents were asked to assign the level of importance they attach to each of the five categories of information generally displayed on the food labels Table 2: Level of Importance Assigned to Various Categories of Information’s on Food Labels of Packaged Foods Very Imp Somew hat Imp Undecided Somew hat Unimp Not Imp at all Can't Say List of ingredients or contents of the food 240 (64) 95 (25) (2) (2) 16 (4) (2) Short phrases about the food characteristics 115 (31) 135(36) 42(11) 40(11) 30(8) 11(3) Nutrition panel giving information on proteins, vitamins etc 190(51) 135(36) 18(5) 11(3) 9(2) 9(2) Information about size of serving 134(36) 114(31) 46(12) 40(11) 26(7) 11(3) Statements regarding 164(44) 115(31) 25(7) health benefits from the food Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentages 34(9) 22(6) 12(3) Results presented in Table indicate that the majority of respondents attach a lot of importance to the kind of information on the food labels and the ones who give no importance at all to the information are very few Information about ‘ingredients’ contained in the processed food is considered very important by 64% of the respondents across three cities, information about ‘nutritional content’ by 51%, and ‘statements’ regarding health benefits by 44% Numbers of respondents who consider information about ‘serving size’ and ‘short phrases’ about special food characteristics very important are comparatively low i.e., 36% and 31% The results indicate that the Indian consumers surveyed in three cities assign very high importance to information about food ingredients and nutritional contents of the food However, as compared to these aspects of food labels, information on serving size and short phrases has lower priority among these consumers Literature on consumer behavior shows that consumers’ actual behavior is consistent with their attitude or concerns For example, in a national survey in the US, 50% of the surveyed respondents said that they preferred to buy organically grown fresh fruit and vegetables, yet only 25% admitted that they actually bought them on regular basis Table 3: Buying Behavior of the Respondents based on the Information Provided on Food Labels Never Rarely Sometimes Mostly Always Not aware of List of ingredients or content of the food 15(4) 24(6) 52(14) 104(28) 170(46) 7(2) Short phrases about the food characteristics 29(8) 39(11) 83(22) 118(32) 90(24) 13(4) Nutrition panel giving information on proteins, vitamins etc 13(4) 29(8) 66(18) 126(34) 128(34) 9(2) Information about size of serving 37(10) 59(16) 80(21) 93(25) 92(25) 9(2) 107(29) 116(31) 11(3) Statements regarding 18(5) 45(12) 74(20) health benefits from the food Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentages In order to examine consistency between respondents’ attitude and behavior, we asked the respondents about their buying behavior with respect to processed/packaged food items The objective was to see how much attention the respondents actually pay to various categories of information while purchasing processed/packaged food The results presented in Table-3 above show that of the respondents who perceive different kinds of information available on the food label as important not many see or use that information while purchasing Though, on the whole, majority of the respondents check such information before buying food products Majority of the people i.e 46% always check the list of ingredients in the food item they are purchasing while 34% always check nutrition panel information Of the five categories of information provided on food labels, information about serving size and short phrases about the food characteristics once again get least attention from the respondents (25% and 24% respectively) Certain food products, based on the food label information, may not meet buyers’ criteria of a healthy food In order to measure the importance people attach to aspects other than food label information while making purchases, the respondents were asked whether they purchased the packaged even if it did not meet their criteria of a healthy food Table 4: Preference of Buyers for the Product Attributes in Case of Packaged Food even if it doesn't conform to Healthy Food Most Imp Least Imp Brand 36(42) 22(26) 13(15) 10(11) 5(6) Price 9(11) 15(18) 26(31) 24(28) 8(9) 3(3) Taste 32(37) 28(33) 17(20) 3(3) 6(7) Your peers buy it 2(2) 10(12) 10(12) 16(19) 41(48) 6(7) Availability 3(3) 11(13) 22(26) 26(30) 20(23) 4(5) Any other 3(19) 1(6) 1(6) Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentages 11(69) As is evident from the results presented in Table 4, brand of the food product plays the most important role with 42% respondents admitting that this is the most important attribute because of which they still buy the processed/packaged product even if it can not be categorized as a healthy food product Taste and price of the food product are other attributes in order of importance assigned by the respondents Peer pressure and availability of such products are the least important reasons for buying them These results indicate that if consumers are very loyal to the brand and really like the taste of a processed/packaged food product, they buy it in spite of its inferior healthy content Table 5: Preference of Buyers for the Product Attributes in Case of Packaged Food Even if it Contains Harmful Ingredients Most Least Imp Imp Brand 30(45) 17(26) 10(15) 4(6) 5(8) Price 8(12) 10(12) 17(20) 24(28) 4(5) 2(2) Taste 25(38) 25(38) 13(20) 1(1) 2(3) Your peers buy it 1(1) 7(11) 4(5) 14(16) 35(41) 4(5) Availability 1(1) 7(11) 18(27) 21(32) 17(26) 2(3) Any other 1(11) 0 0 8(89) Note: Figures in parenthesis denote percentages Most packaged foods are reported to contain certain harmful ingredients such as transfats, monosodium glutamate etc Using one item on the questionnaire we tried to assess the level of awareness about these harmful ingredients among our sample In the data it was found that 69% respondents are aware about harmful ingredients in processed packaged food items It is but natural to believe that these respondents would not be buying foods containing such ingredients given the fact that most people look into the list 10 of ingredients while buying But, a sizeable 18% still buy packaged food items even if these contained harmful ingredients Using one question on the questionnaire we tried to explore the reasons and preferences of attributes of the food product among these 18% respondents In this case too preference for brand, shown by 45% respondents and taste preference shown by 38% are the most important reasons for respondents because of which they buy such food items (Table 5) Price being an intermediate factor and availability and peers buying it are the least important factors for such behavior Comparisons across Respondent Groups Using chi-square statistic, we examined variation across various respondent groups with regard to different aspects discussed above This was done to look for any significant relationships between attitude and behavior towards information displayed on food labels and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents Tables 5-7 provide results of this analysis Next, we discuss these results one by one Table gives results of comparison of importance attached by various groups of respondents to different categories of information displayed on the food labels Table 6: Chi-Square values for comparison of importance assigned to food label information across various respondent groups Gender Age Education Income Occupation List of ingredients or 14.38 52.48 115.16 44.41 41.59 contents of the food (0.16) (0.01) (0.00) (0.01) (0.02) Short phrases about the 17.70 33.03 85.63 43.69 38.94 food characteristics (0.06) (0.32) (0.00) (0.01) (0.04) Nutrition panel giving 5.60 45.52 98.31 55.85 32.59 information on proteins, (0.85) (0.04) (0.00) (0.00) (0.14) vitamins etc Information about size 22.33 39.59 72.94 64.68 59.49 of serving (0.01) (0.11) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) Statements regarding 3.40 28.17 115.90 27.72 33.38 health benefits from the (0.97) (0.56) (0.00) (0.32) (0.12) food Note: Figures outside parenthesis denote chi-square value and in parenthesis denote p-value The results indicate that male and female respondents not differ significantly in terms importance assigned to information regarding ingredients or content, nutritional composition, and health benefits, displayed on food labels However, male respondents 11 differ significantly from their female counterparts when it comes to importance regarding short phrases about food characteristics (chi-square=17.70, p=0.06) and information about serving size (chi-square=22.33, p=0.01) In comparison to females, male respondents attach relatively higher importance to short phrases whereas females give relatively higher importance to serving size Across different age groups of respondents, importance attached to the list of ingredients and nutrition panel information varies significantly Respondents in the age group of 2655 years attach significantly higher importance to both types of information displayed on food labels, information related to the list of ingredients and nutrition panel Level of importance attached to all five categories of information on food label differs significantly across five educational groups of the respondents Respondents with higher education attached significantly higher importance to all five categories of information displayed on the food labels Thus, highly significant value of chi-square statistic indicate that there is significant correlation between education and the importance people attach to the information displayed on food labels This intuitive result implies that there is a need of segmenting customers in packaged food markets based on their educational level Similarly, importance attached to all categories of information on food labels, except statements regarding health benefits, varies significantly across different income groups of respondents (Table 6) This indicates that as income levels of people rise they start attaching increased importance to the information about various aspects of the food Information regarding list of ingredients, short phrases about food characteristics and size of serving showed a significant relationship with respect to occupation of respondents For list of ingredients all occupation groups varying from government service, corporate service, own business, farming, teaching all showed a high percentage towards its importance Whereas, for the other two variables people in services (both government and corporate) and teaching gave more importance as compared to others As seen above there are certain significant relationship across demographic characteristic of the respondents, but are these relationships still significant when people actually buy packaged food? In order to answer this, significance of the same variables was examined with respect to all the demographic variables when people actually buy the packaged food Examining the attention paid by different respondent groups to various categories of information on food label while purchasing packaged food items, we find that attention paid to all types of information except the size of serving is invariant across male and female respondents Results presented in Table-7 indicate that both male and female respondents pay equal attention to all aspects of information displayed on the food labels while making purchases of processed/packaged food items However, in the case of serving size information, females differ significantly from males in terms the attention it gets while purchasing a processed/ packaged food item Comparison across age groups indicates that behavior is invariant across age groups for categories of information and significantly varies for the other two categories Respondents less than 25 years of age pay significantly less attention to list of ingredients and short phrases while purchasing processed/packaged food items 12 Table 7: Comparison of Buying Behavior of the Respondents based on the Information Provided on Food Labels across Various Respondent Groups Educatio Occupati Gender Age n Income on List of ingredients or 12.78 62.26 282.42 67.74 57.04 content of the food (0.24) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) Short phrases about the 10.29 46.81 186.97 42.55 59.92 food characteristics (0.42) (0.03) (0.00) (0.02) (0.00) Nutrition panel giving information on 13.90 24.82 257.74 50.20 79.93 proteins, vitamins etc (0.18) (0.73) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) Information about size 23.39 35.86 221.84 71.53 60.94 of serving (0.01) (0.21) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) Statements regarding health benefits from the 11.78 40.78 208.16 45.62 60.58 food (0.30) (0.91) (0.00) (0.01) (0.00) Note: Figures outside parenthesis denote chi-square value and in parenthesis denote pvalue Across education, income and occupation classes, behavior of respondents at the time of purchase is found to be significant different for categories of information displayed on food labels (Table 7) People with graduate, postgraduate or doctorate degrees pay significantly greater attention to the various kinds of information on the food labels while purchasing processed/packaged food item as compared to respondents who were not that highly educated Hence, education seems to be a significant factor when looking for food label information while buying packaged food Significant relationship between income of the respondents and the attention they pay to all categories of information displayed on food labels indicates that as the income levels rise people start paying increased attention to these kinds of information Similarly, the respondents serving in the government or private sector or doing their own business or in teaching showed a high level of significance for label information while buying vis-à-vis other professions like farming for instance These findings have implications on the food industry and retailers who target an urban and educated clientele The results indicate that people employed in urban areas with generally a decent level of education gave much importance to food label information Finally, we also tested for the influence of different socio-economic characteristics of the respondents on their level of awareness regarding harmful ingredients in packaged food such as trans-fats, MSG etc As shown in Table 8, we found that level of awareness is invariant across gender and age and significantly varies across education, income and occupation groups Contrary to what one might think that females and homemakers would have a higher chance of knowing these, it turned out that gender and age does not have any significance at all As expected, respondents with educational qualification graduation and above have significantly greater awareness regarding such ingredients 13 Similarly, people in the higher income brackets are significantly more aware of the harmful contents in the processed/ packaged food items Of all the occupational categories, farmer was the one category where the awareness was nil Table 8: Comparison for Awareness about Harmful Ingredients and Buying Behavior across Various Respondent Groups Gender Age Education Income Occupation Are you aware of 2.50 7.35 75.43 42.51 30.64 harmful ingredients in (0.29) (0.29) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) packaged foods Do you still buy the 15.65 13.21 91.19 23.35 61.92 same brand of the (0.00) (0.35) (0.00) (0.01) (0.00) product Note: Figures outside parenthesis denote chi-square value and in parenthesis denote pvalue It would be expected that people who are aware of the harmful ingredients would not buy food containing these ingredients However, as mentioned before, some people still We try to examine as to which demographic variables have a significant role to play in such purchase decision making The results in Table show that females, in comparison to males, are less likely to buy a food product if these contained harmful ingredients Taking into account that females comprise at least half the packaged food clientele and probably a higher percentage of household shoppers, it is important to take into account their buying behavior regarding foods containing harmful ingredients The use of such ingredients can be based on the segmentation of the consumers Policy Implications and Conclusions Consumer demand for detailed information regarding content and nutrition of packaged food products is likely to increase due to booming organized retail sector in India Based on a structured questionnaire survey among 373 respondents spread across three major cities in India the study tries to understand the existing level of consumer awareness regarding information on food labels and the usage of such information in purchase decisions about packaged food The results indicate satisfactory level of awareness about different types of information on the food labels displayed on packaged food products, however, usage of such information as one of the criteria while purchasing packaged food product is relatively low The results indicate that Indian consumers assign very high importance to information about food ingredients and nutritional contents of the food However, as compared to these aspects of food labels, information on serving size and short phrases has lower priority among these consumers They also have very strong preference for brand and the taste of the product This preference makes them purchase a packaged food item even though it may not meet their criteria of healthy food or may 14 contain some harmful ingredients Such high preference for brand and taste has far reaching implications for both the regulatory authorities and the food processing firms It becomes very essential for authorities to keep a thorough check on food processing companies as to what they put into in the market for some might knowing or unknowingly use harmful ingredients and still get away with it because of a strong brand name Also, since all harmful ingredients are not banned or their use prohibited but they can be used with certain riders (for example, foods containing MSG have warnings of not using them for infants) it becomes all the more important as to how regulations are framed to check these and how strictly they are enforced The quantity of all ingredients based on serving size also is essential while determining the healthy quotient of a food Hence, it is the responsibility of the regulatory agencies to spread awareness amongst consumers regarding the importance of serving size At the same time big processing companies with established brand names in the market, need to be very conscious of their responsibility when introducing new products in the market They need to live up to the trust of their consumers who, for the sake of brand and taste, are willing to sacrifice a few health quotients The results give a clear indication that label information is generally gender and age insensitive though its use assumes significance with the income levels, education and occupation of the consumers Most lifestyle products such as breakfast cereals, readymade dressings etc that would mostly be used by people who have relatively higher levels of income and education would pay more attention to various kinds of label information The awareness regarding label information is dependent on the consumer’s level of education, income and kind of occupation Hence, it becomes the task of regulatory agencies to sensitize the consumers to availability and importance of such information Just enforcing rules on the food processing/packaging companies is not sufficient until the buyer is not reading them let alone interpreting them To conclude, the outcomes of the study reveal level of awareness about food labels and their usability among Indian 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