Awareness and usage of food labelling in purchasing pattern of pre-packed foods in Ampara District, Sri Lanka

The awareness and attitude of the food label reading are related to the consumer's healthier food choices. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of awareness and reading habits of food labels, and how these affect the consumers' food choices in Ampara district, Sri Lanka. The questionnaire study was employed to acquire data related to the socio-demographic details, degree of food label usage, awareness, and utilization of food labelling and nutrient labelling. There were 369 consumers in the Ampara district who participated in the questionnaire survey selected based on convenient sampling. The collected data were interpreted using descriptive statistics and a multinominal regression model. According to the results, most consumers (73.5%) bought the packet forms of pre-packed foods, and 52.4% preferred the box forms of pre-packed foods. The consumers (97.2%) read the food labels before purchasing, and most of them checked the label on every occasion (73.2%), followed by the few who occasionally checked (23.8%). Further, certain major tags were observed during the purchasing, including expiry/manufactured dates, price, ingredients, and brand in the packing. In addition, 56.7% of the consumers did not know about the traffic light labelling system. Consumers generally preferred products with moderate levels of sugar, salt, and fat. In conclusion, the analysis highlighted that socio-demographic factors played a significant role (p<0.05) in influencing the developed multinomial logistic model. These factors, including age, income, and education level, were found to shape both the understanding of information presented on food labels and the preferences for pre-packaged food products. The study revealed that most consumers in the Ampara district, Sri Lanka are aware of the importance of reading food labels before making purchases.