Readability of Food Product Labels

Author

Mary Alton Mackey PhD, Marilyn Metz PhD

Organization

Consumer Interest Alliance Inc. (CIAI)

Published

2007

Summary

The study was designed to assess the ease with which consumers could read the mandatory components of Canadian food labels. One hundred food labels were selected from supermarkets in two major cities or by internet purchase. The labels were evaluated in three different ways for ease of finding and ease of reading certain mandatory features. A validated typographical scoring system, TVScore© (Metz 1996), was used to assess the readability of the lists of ingredients on all 100 labels. Of those labels, 7% of the ingredient lists were assessed as easy to read; 26% as difficult, and 67% as very difficult to read. In addition, three focus groups, each with 14 to 16 people, were held in different parts of the country. At these focus groups, well-educated consumers aged 50 plus, who were the major food purchasers for their household, examined and discussed approximately 40 of the labels.

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database