[Comprehension of food label claims by university undergraduate students]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether claims made on food labels are well or poorly understood and whether the sex and the experience of consumers in buying food products influence their understanding of the various terms used in the food industry. A questionnaire was randomly distributed to 285 students registered in various undergraduate programs at the University of Ottawa. The average grade of all the respondents to the questionnaire was 53.6% which indicates a lack of understanding of the meanings of the various terms used in the food industry. The results also indicate that more frequent exposure to advertising by the food industry is apt to confuse the consumer. Finally, the respondents without experience in buying food products answered significantly better on three questions; in general, men without experience had significantly better results than women on some questions.