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OECD study: This is the online life of children and young people
by Michael Restin
Most people want them, but many don't understand them: food labelling
11.6.2025
Translation: machine translated
Three quarters of all consumers are interested in food labelling. But not even half of them feel sufficiently informed. This is shown by a new study.
A current, independent study by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) looks at how consumers deal with food labelling. The results reveal the great importance of this packaging information. They also show that a large proportion of consumers are unable to interpret the information correctly.
Great interest in labelling
Three quarters of German adults read food labels before buying. 58 per cent of respondents say they pay more attention to food labels today than they did five years ago. Around half of those surveyed are prepared to pay more for products with comprehensive labelling. However, only 42 per cent feel sufficiently informed by current food labels to make the right purchasing decisions.
The most frequently read information is the use-by date or best-before date (59%), the list of ingredients (43%) and the country of origin (38%). Consumers aged 18-34 are more interested in allergen warnings (27% vs. 20%), organic certifications (30% vs. 28%) and processing methods (18% vs. 13%) than older consumers aged 55 and over.
Deficits in nutritional information and sustainability claims
Nutritional information provides information about the metabolically relevant composition of food, such as the calorific value and the amount of sugar, fat and protein. 68 per cent of German adults understand the information - but 26 per cent say they have difficulties interpreting it so that they can use it to plan a healthy diet. According to the survey, the use of technical terms, percentages and portion sizes is problematic.
There are also deficits when it comes to the topic of sustainability. These include organic, animal welfare and Fairtrade labels. This is important because 68 per cent of people say they pay attention to sustainability when shopping - for 24 per cent this is even very important. 68 per cent of participants understand the information. However, only 28 per cent of participants believe that sustainability aspects are appropriately indicated.
The study identifies a lack of standardisation and criteria for sustainability as the reasons for this. This makes it difficult to assess the informative value of the information. According to the study, standardised ecolabels and stricter regulations could help here.
Little trust in health claims
The study shows that 71 per cent of participants understand health claims. These include product descriptions such as «Fibre contributes to normal bowel function». According to the study, unregulated descriptions on the packaging such as «natural» can give the impression that a product is healthier than it actually is.
Accordingly, only 47 per cent of people consider the claims to be trustworthy. Younger people have a higher level of trust (58 per cent) than older people (42 per cent). The study found that consumers want information that is easy to interpret and standardised labelling.
Recognising highly processed foods: not always easy
A basic rule of thumb is that the more processed food is, the unhealthier it is. 79 per cent of respondents consider details about the processing of a food to be useful information - according to the study, this shows that more people are becoming aware of the health effects of highly processed foods. However, 40 per cent of respondents have difficulty recognising highly processed foods. There was also a lack of clear labelling for this.
Conclusion of the study
Overall, the study found that consumers want more information on packaged foods. However, this information should be easy to interpret and easy to compare. However, too much information can also be confusing. QR codes on packaging are becoming more popular and can help to obtain further information on request.
You can read more results for yourself in this summary of the study.
Header image: Shutterstock/dodotone
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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