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To survey consumers living in Paris, France, to determine the extent to which they use nutrition labels, and to determine the percentage of French consumers who use nutrition labels, how often they use nutrition labels, and how they would like to see current nutrition labels improved. The researchers also wanted to determine the reasons why consumers do not use nutrition labels, and to try and assess users' and non‐users' perceptions about mandatory nutrition labelling.

French consumers (n  =  355) were surveyed in supermarkets in Paris and its suburbs, using a 21‐item questionnaire in May 2004. Interviewers used questionnaires to assess the frequency of respondents' nutrition label use, to investigate the specific nutrient information most commonly consulted on nutrition labels, the types of products on which consumers most often tend to consult nutrition labels, and to collect demographic information.

Only 45.1 per cent of the sample reported reading nutrition labels, with the majority of consumers reading labels only occasionally. Non‐label readers cited lack of interest as the primary reason why they do not read labels, but 95 per cent of the sample, when asked about mandatory nutrition labeling, felt that nutrition labeling should be required of food manufacturers. Research limitations/implications The sample size was small, participation was voluntary and was limited to the city of Paris and its suburbs, and therefore cannot be generalized to the French population.

This is the first study to collect data in a point‐of‐purchase setting in order to examine whether or not French consumers use nutrition labels.

This study aims to determine the effect of health knowledge on nutrition-label use and attitude, and consequently on healthy food choice among Malaysian Muslim consumers.

This study adopts the positivist, deductive and quantitative approach. A sample consisting of 257 Muslim consumers, at least 15 years old, were selected using systematic street-intercept sampling method. Data collected using a self-administered questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling (SEM).

The findings reveal the significant positive effect of health knowledge on nutrition-label use and attitude towards nutrition label, but only attitude towards nutrition label significantly predicts healthy food choice.

Though the findings add to the existing literature, provide useful information on how nutrition label could guide the consumer to make healthier food choices and serve as a reference point that could stimulate and guide future researchers and other relevant parties, this study is limited by several factors that require replication in future research.

This research is perhaps one of the first attempts to consider the role of nutrition label as one of the ways to comply with the Tayyib principle.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how health consciousness and nutrition self-efficacy influence attitudes towards and use of nutrition labels, the moderating effect of nutrition knowledge between health consciousness and nutrition label attitude, and the impact of the consumer’s ethical evaluation of a business on nutrition label use.

This study proposes an integrative model that includes health consciousness, nutrition self-efficacy, nutrition knowledge, nutrition label attitude, ethical evaluation, and nutrition label use. Empirical data were collected from a famous website in Taiwan by a non-ordered questionnaire to decrease the priming effect, and 306 valid questionnaires were collected. The collected data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software.

The results show that both health consciousness and nutrition self-efficacy have direct effects on nutrition label attitude, and this attitude will influence label use. There is a moderating effect of nutrition knowledge, in terms of both subjective and objective nutrition label knowledge, between health consciousness and nutrition label attitude. However, the moderating effect in the low nutrition label knowledge group is slightly greater than in the high nutrition label knowledge group. The consumer’s ethical evaluation of businesses affects nutrition label use.

This study is the first to indicate that nutrition label knowledge, both subjective and objective, will moderate the relationship between consumers’ health consciousness and their attitude towards nutrition labels. Furthermore, this study affirms the relationship between the consumer’s ethical evaluation of a firm and nutrition label use.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the usefulness of nutrition labels in Thailand during nutrition transition from traditional to modern diets that increase salt, sugar, and calorie intake and to note socio-demographic interactions and associations with consumption of transitional processed foods.

The authors studied 42,750 distance learning Open University adults aged 23-96 years in 2013 residing nationwide and participating in an ongoing community-based prospective cohort study. The authors used multivariable logistic regression to relate nutrition label experiences (“read”, “good understand”, “frequent use”), socio-demographic factors, and consumption of four transitional foods. These foods included “unhealthy” instant foods, carbonated soft drinks, and sweet drinks, or “healthy” milk.

Overall, two-thirds reported good understanding and frequent use of nutrition labels. Unhealthy transition-indicator processed foods were frequently consumed: instant foods (7 per cent), (carbonated) soft drinks (15 per cent), and sweet drinks (41 per cent). Frequent users of nutrition labels (e.g. females, older persons, professionals) were less likely to consume unhealthy indicator foods. Those with the most positive overall nutrition label experience (“read” + “good understanding” + “frequent use”) had the best indicator food profiles: instant foods (odds ratio (OR) 0.63; 95%CI, 0.56-0.70); soft drinks (OR 0.56; 95%CI, 0.52-0.61); sweet drinks (OR 0.79; 95%CI, 0.74-0.85); milk (OR 1.87; 95%CI, 1.74-2.00).

Knowledge protected – those with most nutrition label experience were least likely to consume unhealthy foods. Results support government regulated nutrition labels, expanding to include sweet drinks. The study is remarkable for its large size and nationwide footprint. Study subjects were educated, represent Thais of the future, and show high awareness of transition-indicator foods.

Nutrition labels bridge communication between food manufacturers and consumers and are instrumental in shaping food choices and dietary habits. Gaining insight into the factors associated with nutrition label use precedes evaluating the effectiveness of these labels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with nutrition label use among multi-ethnic Malaysian adults.

Data from the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (n=39,506) on nutrition label use was analysed. Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the factors associated with reading nutrition labels, adjusted for confounders.

The findings show that females, young adults aged between 18 and 30 years, Malays, tertiary educated, singles, employed individuals, physically active adults and non-smokers were significantly associated with increased odds of nutrition label use.

Causality could not be established due to the cross-sectional study design. The scope of the data collected limited investigations to the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with nutrition label use. Future research measuring consumers’ attention, motivation and comprehension of nutrition label use and subsequent food selection should be conducted.

Health promotion efforts targeted towards promoting the use of nutrition label among males, older adults aged between 31 and 40 years, ethnic minorities, primary educated, widowed/divorced individuals, unemployed, physically inactive and smokers are recommended.

This nationwide study provides valuable insights into the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors significantly associated with nutrition label use among Malaysian adults.

Research findings have suggested that today’s consumers view nutrition in a positive light. The findings of this survey support such evidence. The majority of consumers consider diet to be a very important component of their lifestyles and regard nutrition as a positive attribute of food products. A high level of awareness of nutrition labelling is evident among consumers, and 58 per cent of respondents use nutrition labels. However, consumers have to deduce information from nutrition labels in their current format. This proves rather difficult as knowledge of a balanced diet is quite low. Therefore, consumers find it difficult to implement current dietary advice through the use of nutrition labels, and only 17 per cent of the sample surveyed use labels for this purpose. Social networks and the “popular” media were found to be the most used sources of nutrition information, the medical profession was seen as a source of “cure” rather than prevention and a negligible percentage of the sample used official government information channels. Concludes that nutrition labels have a role to play; however, the food industry needs to respond to consumer needs and education/information provision needs to be improved.

Previous studies have shown high levels of self‐reported nutrition label use, yet when tested consumers have difficulty in using label information effectively. Using verbal protocol analysis, this study explored nutrition label use directly, identifying the tasks consumers actually undertake, and how these are used to inform choice. The implications of the findings for labelling policy and nutrition education are discussed.

Nutrition labels are seen as offering the potential to educate consumers about healthy eating and to encourage and enable them to make healthy food choices. This study used verbal protocol analysis, a method new to food choice research, to examine which parts of the nutrition label are currently used by consumers when shopping “normally” and for “healthy” foods. The implications of the findings for nutrition educators are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the socio‐demographic and health variables of a representative sample of Croatian subjects over 15 years of age associated with reading nutrition labels and, in particular, to examine the association of age characteristics of “label users” with nutrition reading habits.

A total of 1,011 randomly selected subjects over 15 years of age were interviewed by telephone. Moreover, 638 “label users” were recruited for assessing nutrition label habits.

Of the subjects, 36 per cent claimed that they had never, 25 per cent rarely, 19 per cent always and 15 per cent sometimes read nutrition labels. Females, participants with the highest levels of education, still undergoing education, physically active and on special diets claimed that they were more likely to read nutrition labels. Among “label users”, younger participants mentioned “curiosity” as the most important reason for reading nutrition labels, while older participants more often pointed out “wish for healthy eating habits”. “Interpretational aids” were often mentioned among younger participants for easier understanding of nutritional information, while older participants requested “bigger letter size”.

The present study provides a starting point for establishing nutrition education targeted at specific groups of consumers. Research is limited to the subject's self‐reported nutrition label reading. Future research is needed to explore the differences between “label users” and “’non‐users”.

As the study showed, a notable difference exists between younger and older subjects regarding nutrition habits that could help experts toward effective communication. Nevertheless, the study could fill the research gaps in nutrition reading habits of specific groups of consumers in European countries, other than northern Europe.

This study aims to increase knowledge of the ability of nutrition labels to guide consumer choices in real-life environments.

Food consumption and plate waste data were collected from two self-service restaurants (SSR) with different customer groups over six observation days: three control and three intervention (with nutrition labelling) periods. Study Group 1 consisted of vocational school students, mostly late adolescents (N = 1,710), and Group 2 consisted of spa hotel customers, mostly elderly (N = 1,807). In the experimental restaurants, the same food was served to the buffets during the control and intervention periods.

The nutrition label in the lunch buffet guides customers to eat fewer main foods and salads and to select healthier choices. Increased consumption of taste enhancers (salt and ketchup) was observed in the study restaurants after nutritional labelling. Nutrition labelling was associated with a reduction in plate waste among the elderly, whereas the opposite was observed among adolescents.

The results provide public policymakers and marketers with a better understanding of the effects of nutrition labelling on consumer behaviour. Future studies should further evaluate the effects of nutrition labelling on the overall quality of customer diets and the complex environmental, social, and psychological factors affecting food choices and plate waste accumulation in various study groups.