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15 September 2008
Singapore
Two in three (66%) global online consumers say they take notice of packaged goods labels containing nutritional information compared to two years ago but less than half of consumers (44%) claim to mostly understand what they’re reading – according to findings from an Internet survey on Food Labeling and Nutrition conducted in 51 countries, released today by The Nielsen Company.
According to the Nielsen survey, one in five (24%) global consumers said they always check nutritional information when buying packaged goods and more will do so when they are thinking about buying a product for the first time. While 68 percent of Asia Pacific consumers say they take notice of the nutritional information on packaging more now than two years ago, the figure for Singapore is slightly below the regional average, at 61 percent.
Singaporeans have not yet cultivated the habit of regularly checking nutritional labeling—only one in five (19%) claims to always check food packaging labels. However, consumers here tend to pay more attention to food labels in specific situations,-- when they are buying a product for the first time (39%) or when buying certain food types (36%). Other scenarios which warrant greater attention from Singaporean consumers are when they are on a diet or are trying to lose weight (19%), and when they are buying the products for their children (16%). One in five (20%) only check nutritional information on the food package when they have the time, while for close to one in ten (8%), it’s never!
“Our survey findings clearly demonstrate the degree to which health and diet have taken a pivotal role in our lifestyles,” said Joan Koh, Director for FMCG Research for The Nielsen Company Singapore. “The need for clear and educational labeling has become one of the most debated and controversial topics in recent few years and the pressure is on the food industry to take greater responsibility for educating people about what they’re eating.”
Consumers in Asia Pacific have quickly caught up with the global food labeling trend in the past three years. In 2005, 21 percent said they will always check the nutritional information on the package when they buy packaged food, compared to 25 percent this time round. In the 2008 survey, 34 percent of Asians said they checked nutritional information when they’re thinking of buying a product for the first time and 27 percent said they checked when buying certain types of food.
“The development of supermarkets and the modern trade in emerging markets in the last 10 years has brought a plethora of new packaged products to consumers. As such, nutritional information on packaging serves to educate shoppers on what they are buying and eating,” said Ms Koh.
Trying to lose weight seems to be a key motivation for consumers to check the nutritional labels, especially for Australians (24%) and Kiwis (20%) in Asia Pacific. Interestingly across Asia Pacific, only one in 10 said they would check food labels when they are buying for their children.
Across the region, seven percent of consumers in Asia Pacific said they never check the nutritional labels on the package, showing little improvement from three years ago when the same survey was conducted.
Consumers interested in the nutritional content of the foods they buy, and food manufacturers’ effort to provide more information is one thing. Understanding the labels is something else altogether. Globally, less than half of consumers - and less than a third in Asia Pacific - say they mostly understand the nutritional information on food packaging. The majority shows partial understanding of food labels. India, Australia and New Zealand are home to the most ‘conversant’ consumers in the region, with over half claiming to mostly understand food labels.
Singapore was among the top 10 countries with most people claiming to understand food labels. Close to two in five (37%) claimed to comprehend most of the info, whereas a majority (57%) understands it in part. Compared to 2005, there does not seem to be much improvement in Singaporeans’ understanding of food labeling.
Fat, Calories and Preservatives: the three big “look-outs” for global consumers
Globally, it’s the fat content that drives nearly half of all consumers to check the labels on food packaging. 47 percent say they check food labels for fat, followed by calories (44%) and preservatives (42%). Interestingly, checking for preservatives has overtaken sugar (40%), indicating a shift in consumers’ concern from sugar to preservatives. This resonates with findings from another global survey conducted in 2007 by Nielsen on functional foods - according to a global Nielsen organic and functional food survey conducted in 2007, two in five (38%) global consumers considered a product with full sugar but no artificial flavours/ colours/ additives to be healthier than a product reduced in calories but with artificial substitutes.
In Asia Pacific, consumer concern about Preservatives (51%) in food remains consistent with three years ago, while Additives have overtaken Fat Content as the second biggest reason for checking nutritional labels. Over four in 10 say they check food labels for Coloring, Fat and Calories.
Similar to the last survey conducted in 2005, Fat and Sugar remain the first and third concerns amongst 53 percent and 42 percent of Singaporean consumers. People’s concern about Calories appears to be overshadowed by their concern about Trans Fats, which registered a huge increase (+14% points) to become the second biggest concern. More than two in five (43%) now claim to check for Trans Fats in food labeling.
“Singaporeans are showing greater concern towards their health by actively seeking more information on what they are consuming,” observed Ms Koh. “In the past five years there has been unprecedented coverage of health, diet and lifestyle issues in every kind of media. Never before have consumers been so obsessed with healthy living, and savvy marketers have realized that adding an element of “healthiness” to any product is fundamental to sales success,” said Ms Koh.
Click here to access the PDF report.
About The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey
The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Customized Research, was conducted in April 2008 among 28,253 internet users in 51 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East. The largest half-yearly survey of its kind, the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey provides insight into current confidence levels, spending habits/intentions and the major concerns of consumers across the globe. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumers’ confidence in the job market, status of their personal finances and readiness to spend.
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