What Consumers Look For On Product Labels

What Are They Reading?

With consumers paying closer attention to information and imagery printed on packaged food and beverage product labels, how might manufacturers, marketers and regulators, like FDA, make life easier for consumers in their attempts to sort through the endless array of statements, claims, symbols and lists found on packaging? We found, among the many different components found on a typical packaged food or beverage product label, the most important “parts of a package” consumers look at are the nutrition facts panel, ingredient lists and expiration (freshness) dates.

Consumer desire for higher quality products is emerging as the macro trend of the 21st century with implications extending well beyond the foreseeable future. An integral part of the evolution of food quality is the shift toward higher freshness standards. As consumers seek out higher quality food products, they will want to know just “how fresh” a product is. Among 16 different package components tested, the first and third most frequently examined label elements relate to freshness.

The majority of American consumers (60 percent) “always” look for expiration dates, while close to half of consumers (49 percent) “always” look at the freshness or “made on” date. Sandwiched between the expiration and freshness date, the nutrition facts panel is the second most frequently examined label component: 50 percent of consumers “always” check nutrition facts panels. The other most frequently examined label component is the ingredients list, which 47 percent of consumers “always” examine (Figure 2).

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