Nutritional labeling: analysis of the importance for higher education students of IFUSLDEMINAS – Campus Machado (Atena Editora)

Abstract

The compression of nutritional labeling can be considered as an important tool for the individual to have greater detention of information, as well as the best choice for a balanced and healthy diet. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the importance given to the information contained in the labels by higher education students at IFSULDEMINAS – Campus Machado. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and applied to obtain information and assess the level of understanding of the information contained in the labels of food products. The analysis of the data obtained led to the conclusion that the information conveyed on the labels of industrialized foods is not well understood by the interviewees and that, among the interviewed consumers, it was possible to verify that women are more attentive to the information contained in the nutrition label. The main reported factors that discourage reading the label are directly related to the inappropriate presentation of the label, which involve the small size of the letters and the complexity of the information that make understanding difficult.