Food Labels in Latin America.

As part of its twice annual Online Consumer Opinion Survey, A. C. Nielsen asked its respondents about their use of labeling on food products. Specifically, Nielsen was interested in how and when consumers used nutritional labeling.

The questions Nielsen asked had to do with how much they understood about nutritional food labeling, when they check the labels for information, and as they do their grocery shopping, what they check.

In Latin America, approximately 33 percent of shoppers responded that they 'always' check labels on processed foods. This was the highest rate of response for the 21,100 consumers interviewed in 38 markets in nearly every region of the world. No results were presented for the Africa Mid-East region.

The average of consumers in the Asia Pacific, Europe, and North American regions for shoppers who said they 'always' checked food labels was 20 percent.

In Latin America, as in the rest of the 38 markets studied by Nielsen, consumers most often checked a label when the first bought a product. This pattern was consistent for all markets studied, and was cited by an estimated 40 percent of respondents.

The answer was critical because, according to Nielsen, it demonstrated how important nutritional information was to consumers at the trial stage of buying a product.

The clarity of the nutrition information, and what Nielsen called the manufacturer's "nutritional proposition" - whether or not a product meets a consumer's selection criteria - can determine if the product goes into the shopping cart or back onto the shelf.

Given the striking importance of nutrition labels to Latin American consumers, marketers selling into the market can create a competitive edge with the right nutrition label.

Differences between markets in the survey provided some insight into the mindset of Latin American consumers and the importance they place on nutrition labels.

It turns out that in Japan, hardly anyone checks nutrition labeling. Japanese consumers have a high level of awareness of strict Japanese laws in regard to food processing and over time have developed a significant degree of trust for well-known processors.

There is a case to be made that similar trust does not apply for Latin American consumers in regard to producers supplying local supermarket shelves.

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