Abstract:
Objective To understand the status quo of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on two national food safety standards (General rules for labeling of prepackaged foods and General rules for nutrition labeling of prepackaged foods), and to provide a scientific basis for further popularizing and implementing national food safety standards.
Methods By intercept interviews, 350 consumers were surveyed using questionnaires on KAP of two national standards in 10 shopping malls, supermarkets, and maternal and infant supplies stores in Changzhou in 2015.
Results A total of 348 valid questionnaires were returned, and the valid response rate was 99.4%. The consumers' awareness rate of the two standards was 59.3%. The rate of holding positive attitude toward participating in activities related to popularizing these standards was 69.4%. The rate of applying the standards was 60.1%. Age and educational level were the main factors affecting consumers' understanding of the standards and purchasing baby foods according to food labels (P < 0.05). Age and family monthly income per person were the main factors affecting consumers' willingness to buy baby foods according to food labels (P < 0.05). Moreover, the main ways of gaining knowledge of the two standards were publicity activities organized by relevant government departments (58.9%), billboards/manuals (34.8%), and television/radio (29.6%). The recruited customers expected to gain related knowledge through publicity activities organized by relevant government departments (60.1%), billboards/manuals (39.4%), and wechat (35.6%).
Conclusion The customers' awareness rate of the two food labeling standards should be further improved. Multiple publicity methods are required to disseminate food labeling standards and deepen the connotation of food labeling standard tracking evaluation.