Consumers' use of nutrition labels on dairy foods

This research was conducted in order to better understand and identify the demographic, socioeconomic, shopping habits, sources of nutrition information, and nutrition attitude characteristics which influence consumers' use of nutrition labels on dairy food products. The data used in this study was gathered from a mail survey of households throughout the state of Tennessee. The effects of demographic, socioeconomic, shopping habits, sources of nutrition information, and nutrition attitude characteristics on the probability of the head of a household being a nutrition label reader. The probit model was used to examine these effects statistically.

The results showed that certain characteristics do affect an individuals' probability of reading nutrition labels. Female gender had a positive effect on the probability of being a label reader. Receiving nutrition information from newspapers, books, magazines, and health professionals positively impacted the probability of label readership. An individual not working outside of the home and having children under 18 years of age present in the home were found significant and positively affected the probability of reading labels. Nutrition and flavor are very important food characteristics in food purchase decisions and positively influence the probability of label readership. Furthermore, living in an urban area has a positive impact on the probability of label readership. These results have important implications for the dairy industry, health professionals, and policy makers for the targeting of label information and nutrition advertising. Consumer segments may be identified from these results for nutrition label users and nonusers.