Eureka! Institutional Repository

Objective: The main objective of this work is to investigate the methods and factors involved in the reading and understanding of food labels by the general public various parts of Greece. The ultimate goal is to compare our findings with factors already researched by a multitude of scientists. Therefore, the bibliography is extensively reviewed to broaden all the factors that may be responsible for the wrong consumer decisions based on their own personal characteristics. Methodology: A survey was conducted using a questionnaire distributed to a total of 1200 individuals in the summer months of 2018 and the charts and analyzes are presented with the help of the IBM S.P.S.S. STATISTICS V.20. The analysis aims to introduce the factors that are strongly related to reading and understanding nutritional information, in drawing conclusions for each control agent, so that the most important factors that play a role in the reading of food labels and ultimately the final consumer's decision to purchase a product. Results: The majority of respondents belonged to the 18-30 age group, while the majority of the sample, namely 68.1% were women. 58.9% of respondents consider the purchase price as one of the most important criteria for reading the label, while 80% always check the expiration dates and often read the labels. the percentage of children without children is important, 50% of whom appear to be more cautious in the food market. It has also been shown that people with very good health often control or always maintain nutritional claims, while people with moderate health status control them rarely or never. Conclusions: It turns out once again that eating habits are directly linked to issues of an economic nature and not so much to the health of the individual and the family. This is due to the economic situation of a country and the priorities given by consumers. As a consequence, the need to raise awareness of nutrition labeling is highlighted, with the ultimate goal of upgrading consumer health.