3 out of 4 Pinoy consumers read food labels regularly - survey

About three in every four Filipinos say they read food labels regularly to check on the nutritional and health values of the product they buy, a recent international survey showed.

The survey, commissioned by the Singapore-based Asian Food Information Center (AFIC), showed that 71 percent of Filipino respondents indicated to be “neutral to confident” with the food safety level in the country.

Information that Philippine consumers are looking for on food labels includes expiry date (most important information for 59 percent of consumers), followed by vitamin content (mentioned by 13 percent of consumers as the most important info) and food additives (seven percent), according to the survey conducted by The Nielsen Co. in July and August of 2008.

The Nielsen Co. surveyed a total of 1,007 adult respondents from five Asian countries: China, India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.

The number of respondents for each city were: Beijing, 200; New Delhi, 204; Manila, 200; Seoul, 202 and Tokyo, 201.

When asked to rank specific food safety concerns, Filipino consumers indicated a rather high level of concern for many of the issues with food poisoning, pesticides residue, and improper handling of food topping the list.

Food biotechnology is much less of a concern compared to other food safety issues with none of the respondents citing this as a top of mind concern, the AFIC said.

A majority of Filipino consumers or 74 percent stated there is no information they would like to see added to food labels.

Those who mentioned that they are not satisfied with the current information on food labels said they would like to have additional information about the content such as the presence of vitamins, minerals and other basic ingredients and expiration or production dates.

The survey also revealed that labeling of genetically modified foods is not a spontaneous labeling demand, and none of the respondents suggested presence of GM ingredients as an additional item to be included on food labels, the AFIC said.

Compared to the other surveyed countries, consumers in the Philippines appear to be most knowledgeable about food biotechnology and the increased awareness positively correlates with acceptance, the AFIC said.

One out of three Filipinos is aware of the benefits of biotechnology even as a majority of the consumers say they would purchase foods produced through biotechnology for specific benefits.

Ninety-two percent of the 1,007 adult respondents say they support food production using plant biotechnology if the technology delivers sustainable benefits.

A large majority of Philippine consumers also indicated that they accept biotechnology as a way to increase the production of food staples and to supply sustainable food, the AFIC said.

“Acceptance from Philippine consumers of crop biotechnology to produce nutritionally enhanced foods is an important outcome of this research. For instance, Golden Rice (enhanced in B-carotene to prevent vitamin A deficiency) is close to commercialization in the Philippines and the AFIC research shows that consumers in the country will accept this nutritionally superior rice,” Dr. George Fuller, AFIC executive director, said.

The survey also found that Filipino consumers largely believe that biotechnology crops have the potential to deliver high quality and nutritional foods.

“The survey also indicates that food security is on the consumers’ mind and consumers support biotechnology’s potential for improving agricultural productivity,” Fuller said.

Awareness about plant biotechnology is high in the Philippines and positively correlates with favorability and acceptance of biotechnology to produce foods, the AFIC said.

A majority (59 percent) of consumers have favorable impressions of plant biotechnology and nine percent are holding neutral impressions.

Seventy-three percent of Philippine consumers believe that they would personally benefit from food biotechnology in the next five years. Key expected benefits are improved food quality and making food more affordable, the AFIC said.