Consumers’ awareness regarding food safety standards, related Acts and food labels in Visakhapatnam (urban)

Abstract

Background: Globally nutrition- related non-communicable diseases are on therise due to increase in consumption of “pre-packed foods” which are cheap, nutritionally poor. Food labels would enable consumers to choose nutritionally appropriate food. Objective: To study the consumers’ awareness regarding laws governing food & consumers’ safety and the compliance for use of information on food labels. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in 3 selected supermarkets. The sample size was calculated as 127. The participants were selected by convenient sampling.The data was collected by using a pre-designed pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire after obtaining informed consent. Institutional Ethical Committee clearance was obtained.Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 17.Chi-square test was used to find any significant association between sociodemographic factors and utilization of food labels. P<0.05was taken as statistically significant within 95% confidence limits. Results: A total of 127consumers participated in the study. Most of them belonged to age group 21-40 years. Among them 51.2% were females and 48.8% were males. Majority (71.7%) were aware of food labelling but only 29.9%checked for nutritional information on food labels. The study showed significant association between socio-demographic variables like age, education, marital status and checking for nutritional information on food labels.Only 28.3% and 50.3% were aware of FSSAI and Consumer protection Acts respectively. Conclusion: The present study showed that most of the study participants were not aware of acts and laws related to food safety and information on the food labels. Hence, it is important to educate consumers regarding food labels and on how to utilize the information to make healthy food choices.