EU consumers say nutrition knowledge is 'generally good'

A new survey says that that on average only 18 per cent of Europeans  regularly look for nutrition information on food packaging

Results showed that more established forms of nutrition information on labels such as the guideline daily amount (GDA) scheme, are widely recognised and understood by shoppers. 

“While there are several nutrition labelling schemes across Europe, our findings show that people recognise them and generally know how to use them to make informed nutrition choices”, said  Klaus Grunert of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, who conducted the study.

“Nutrition labelling should be seen as a key element in a rounded public health strategy.”

The findings come as MEPs consider food labelling proposals.

More than 53 per cent of shoppers in the UK and 44 per cent in France looked for nutrition information in the GDA labelling system.

In countries where food additives were identified as important information - Hungary, France and Poland - the ingredients table was also cited.

A new finding was that people spend an average of 30 seconds selecting a product.  By comparison to previous studies, this is substantially more time than previously observed.  The UK was lowest at 25 seconds per product, and Hungary the highest with a full 47 seconds.

Shoppers are most likely to look for nutrition information when buying yogurts, breakfast cereals and ready meals. 

Convenience and health clearly played a role in purchasing decisions, while taste was the most important deciding factor across all categories in most countries.

Grunert said, "I am surprised the average consumer spends 30 seconds selecting a food product but looking for nutirition information is a welcome sign."

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