Portuguese consumers’ attitudes towards food labelling

ABSTRACT

Policy-makers, researchers, food manufacturers and retailers are re-examining the provision of nutrition informationto consumers on food labels. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has called on countries to extend the use ofconsumer-friendly front-of-package (FOP) labelling that is easy to understand and interpret on the basis of strong,consistent evidence that such schemes are preferred and correctly understood. Challenges in implementing policiesat national level have been experienced, however, because governments and policy-makers lack knowledge aboutconsumers’ attitudes and behaviour in regard to food choice and consumption. In some setting, it has thereforebeen difficult to identify the most appropriate scheme. In the Portuguese context, little was previously known aboutconsumers’ attitudes towards food labelling. There was some evidence of differences between consumers who arepoorly and highly literate and also according to gender, age and socioeconomic status; however, there were nounequivocal data on how different consumer segments understand and respond to nutrition labelling.