The purpose of this study was to investigate how the ingredients listed on the food packaging label affect consumer’s perceptions of food, as well as to study how familiar these ingredients are to the consumer.
Data were collected by completing a questionnaire via online communication from 10 May 2020 to 1 June 2020 in the middle of the first quarantine due to pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The respondents were 205 people, 78% women and 22% men. Pearson correlation and Kendall’s tau-b were computed to measure the association between variables.
The results showed that 70.8% of the participants were able to read the label, 44% believed that they were able to understand the written information on the label, while only 18% stated weakness. Presenting only the listed packaging ingredients of four blind products, the respondents were asked to answer whether they would buy them. The most common answer (30.1%) was “neither possible nor unlikely”. However, comparing the participants’ responses when presented to them ingredients from blind foods, with those from foods known to them, a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between their preferences (toast bread p=0.018, biscuits p=0.019, hazelnut praline p=0.004, turkey p=0.002). Also, 83% of the participants recorded awareness of the packaging listed macronutrients.
In conclusion, the present study indicated observed ability distinguishing foods with low or high content of essential nutrients, in line with skepticism about choosing products with ingredients contained even in foods of daily consumption.