Food label spoken here, say Kiwi shoppers

Although one in 10 New Zealanders never check food labels for nutritional information, those who bother rate themselves among the top in the world for understanding what they see.

An ACNielsen online survey asked more than 21,000 people in 38 countries how much they understood food labelling, when they checked labels and what they checked for?

New Zealand was below the global average for "always" checking nutritional labels (12 per cent versus 20 per cent), but was among the top 10 countries surveyed when it came to claiming to understand such labels.

Ninety-six per cent of New Zealanders said they had some understanding of food labels, and 61 per cent claimed they mostly understood them.

Globally, only half of respondents said they had some understanding of nutritional labels. One in 10 consumers in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong said they did not understand such labels at all.

The survey, conducted in May, showed 45 per cent of New Zealanders checked the labels when they were considering buying a product for the first time.

Fat and sugar content were the items most often checked for, with 58 per cent of New Zealanders regularly checking for fat content and 51 per cent for sugar.

New Zealanders worried less than others in the Asia Pacific region about counting calories (31 per cent compared with the regional average of 42) and cared about additives or preservatives the least (27 per cent compared with the regional 47 per cent for preservatives and 42 per cent for additives).

Dietitian Jeni Pearce said it was good that 90 per cent of New Zealanders read labels, but she doubted that people's understanding was as great as they claimed.

The Watch List

Percentage of New Zealanders who regularly check nutritional labels for content of:
* Fat - 58 per cent
* Sugar - 51 per cent
* Carbohydrates - 28 per cent
* Salt/sodium - 28 per cent
* Fibre - 19 per cent
* Protein - 12 per cent
* Gluten - 8 per cent

Source: ACNielsen