Consumers do not always digest the content of printed labels found on food products in full, it has been claimed.
According to new research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, consumers were more likely to read a nutritional facts label if it is located centrally on packaging.
Lead investigators Dan Graham and Robert Jeffrey, from the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, said that their recent study shows that consumers have a "finite attention span for nutrition facts labels".
They claimed that while most consumers pay attention to a product's nutritional values, "very few consumers viewed every component on any label".
Graham and Roberts findings followed an investigation which monitored the eye movements of 203 individuals who were shown 64 grocery products on a computer monitor.
Some 33 per cent of those studied claimed that they always look at the number of calories listed on a product's food label.
Recently, research from Fourth Hospitality found that two-thirds of people would like information similar to that found on supermarket peelable labels to be on display in restaurants.
Denny Bros Ltd, 25th October 2011
