Willingness and influencing factors of nutrition facts panel use among residents in six provincial-level administrative regions across China

  Objective   To examine the willingness to use food nutrition facts panel (NFP) and its influencing factors among residents in six provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) across China and to provide a reference for the promotion of food nutrition labeling.

  Methods   Using stratified multistage random sampling, we recruited 3 037 permanent adult residents (aged 18 – 70 years) of 120 urban communities/rural villages in Beijing municipality and Jiangsu, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Henan, and Sichuan province. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among the residents from July 2020 through March 2021 with a self-designed electronic questionnaire about the willingness to use NFP of packaged foods. Unconditional multivariate logistic regression model was adopted to analyze factors affecting residents’ willingness to use the NFP.

  Results   Of the 3 002 participants with valid respondence, 42.67% (1 281) reported the willingness to use NFP when buying pre-packaged food. Among the 1 281 participants willing to use the NFP, 94.85% reported the attention to sugar content listed in the NFP, followed by 92.97% to protein, 92.58% to salt (sodium), 92.19% to fat, 89.77% to energy amount, 85.56% to carbohydrate, 80.95% to saturated fatty acid, and 80.64% to trans fatty acid, respectively. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the participants with following characteristics were more likely to use NFP: with the education of high school/technical school/technical secondary school and above, with a family member under 18 years old, being aware of adverse effect of unreasonable diet structure on health, and having a fair or good diet habit; while, the participants aged 60 years and above, being not aware of own body weight, and buying pre-packaged food at least once a week were less likely to use NFP.

  Conclusion   Among adult residents in six PLADs, the proportion of those willing to use NFP when buying pre-packaged food is not high and the willingness is mainly influenced by age, education, whether with a family member aged less than 18 years, the awareness of own body weight, the awareness of adverse effect of unreasonable diet structure on health, diet habit, and the frequency of buying pre-packaged food.