“Many do not look at labels on these products because nutritional content seems to matter less to consumers on categories which are considered a treat,” claims Geraldine Padbury, senior consultant in consumer research at Harris Interactive.
The consultant presented the findings from two surveys her firm undertook in relation to consumers’ usage and understanding of food labelling at last week’s annual conference of the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery (BCCC) trade section of the UK industry body, the Food and Drink Federation.
The first survey interviewed 1,079 online and investigated consumer’s general attitude to food labelling. The second one, involving 1,342 was conducted especially for the BCCC conference - Working Together for a Healthy Future - and looked specifically at various food categories.
The poll devised for the conference found that 54 per cent of participants checked labeling of cakes and 52 per cent checked pizza labels, as opposed to the 69 per cent of consumers who checked the labels of dairy products and 67 per cent of those that checked the labels of canned foods.