Consumer Knowledge About Nutritional Information Marketing Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

The research is based on the impact of nutritional labeling on consumer buying behavior. the purpose of the study is to identify the factors that influence consumers to consider nutritional labeling while making a purchase from them or for their house hold. Moreover it also determines that printed nutritional value on packaged food products is essential for the consumer buying decision.

This study made the researchers clear about the knowledge a consumer have about a nutritional content of package food products and also the nutrients a consumer look for their healthy diet through detailed published articles, journals and blogs related to food label. Many articles were referred for understanding of the reasons which play an important role in consumer buying behavior.

This research is based on quantitative data; secondary data is referred for the understanding of the topic. The data is collected through questionnaires from 200 respondents of different age, gender, income and education level living in different areas of Karachi mainly from Defence/Clifton, KDA/Bahadarabad/PECHS, North Nazimabad/Nazimabad/F.B. Area, Gulshan e Iqbal/Gulistan e Jauhar/Malir and Saddar.

The findings which are analyzed through this research are that there are various factors that influence consumers to read nutritional labeling while making a purchase. By these findings the researchers are able to develop a framework representing the socio economic classifications (SEC) that have an impact on consumer buying behavior. result_________________________

Introduction:

Background:

Labeling is defined as printed information or written text on the container of the product or it can be define as a subset of packaging (Prathiraja & Ariyawardana, 2003). In food industry, labeling might just include the name of a brand, name of a product or logo but mostly it includes variety of information about a product like nutritional information, manufacturing date, expiration date, method of usage, contacts etc along with brand name, product name and logo. A label is one of the points of contact between producer and purchaser and is also a part of producer marketing plan (Prathiraja & Ariyawardana, 2003). Labeling make consumers aware about any unique characteristic of the food, its nutritional properties, the way to use and how to preserve, all of these are of the upmost importance when buying, since the consumer has the opportunity to make purchasing decision (Senesi, Nayga, Gómez, Palau, & Ordoñez, 2006). The items that consumers are most likely to read are price, preparation, manipulation and preservation of products. Another study revealed the items most read comprise calories, fats, sugar and fiber contents (Godwin, Henderson, & Thompson, 2006). Information on a food label was found to affect a customer purchase behavior significantly. Nutritional information might make easy label use by increasing its benefits and by increasing the effectiveness of their use, thereby reducing the cost of using them. Nutritional information plays a significant role in providing relevant information to consumer through which the purchasing behavior varies (Prathiraja & Ariyawardane, 2003). The level of awareness required to make the purchase decisions are compared across different socio-economic groups. Many investigators have also found that the interest in reading the food labels increases with age up to the mid-fifties, and thereafter it declines (Sushil Kumar & Jabir Ali, 2011). The food printed label includes different information but it is found that nutritional value is one of the most important information for customers.

Research Problem:

The purpose of the study is to identify factors on the nutritional food label in influencing purchase decision in accordance with the socio-economic classification (SEC) of the consumers, while secondary objective of the research is to identify the characteristics of consumers and the extent of knowledge concerning nutritional value (senesi et al, 2006). Moreover this research helps to find the relation between printed nutrition value on packaged food product and consumer buying behavior. Consumers will choose better food products if they understand and use the food labels (senesi et al, 2006). The study explores the complex relationship of nutrition knowledge and consumer buying decision (Drichoutis, Lazaridis and Nayga,2006). The study can help to determine that printed nutritional value on packaged food products is essential for the customer buying decision or not. In the context to nutritional labeling, many customer switch towards other products after reading printed nutrition value such as fat, calories etc. The study also identifies those nutrition values which have a negative effect on consumer buying behavior.

Problem Statement:

"The impact of printed nutritional labeling on consumer buying behavior."

Objective of the study:

To analyze the impact of printed nutritional labeling on consumer buying behavior.

Sub Objectives:

To examine the impact of printed nutritional labeling according to the gender of respondents.

To identify how different age group respond to products with nutritional labeling.

To analyze how educational level affect the consumers' response to nutritional level.

To study the impact of households income towards buying products with nutritional labeling.

Scope:

This research will be a study of Karachi, Pakistan. We will get the forms filled by middle and upper middle class visiting the malls and various supermarkets. We will ask them whether their buying preferences changed after reading the nutrition fact.

Justification:

By the research we will get to know how nutritional information printed on packaged food will benefit each stake holders:

The biggest advantage for consumers will be confidence and ownership as the product is tested under certain standards. They will feel that the product is healthy for them.

Consumers will get the advantage of time saving as they don't have to search and find out whether the product is safe or not.

It will be beneficial for consumers who are health conscious and individuals who are on special diet recommended by doctors.

Consumers can use health claims, which appear on the front of food packages, to recognize foods with positive nutritional qualities related to risk factors.

Printed nutritional labeling will serve as a great way of promotion for the manufacture as it will provide their product an image of a safe and healthy brand.

The producer will have its own unique product identity.

The producer will get the competitive advantage as they will retain the loyal customer, lose fewer customers and attract more new customers.

Assumptions:

Our assumption is that all the economic indicators will remain same as well as the pattern of buying behavior. This assumption is made so that we can have result that is based on complete objectivity.

We are also assuming that the nutrition information printed on the label of the packaged food is correct and by concerned authority.

There is no kind of miss interpretation and proper application of government policy is kept in view by the producers while printing of the nutritional labeling. 

In this research we are also assuming that consumers are aware of printed nutritional labeling found at the back of the every food item.

Limitations:

Our study will only consider the impact of gender, income, age, and life style index (LSI) and education level towards consumer buying behavior of nutritional products with printed nutritional labels on them. We are only focusing on those food products that have printed labeling on them.

Structure of Report

The research is divided into five main chapters which are Introduction, Literature review, Research Methodology, Data Findings and Analysis, Conclusion and Recommendations.

Chapter 1 of this research relates to introduction and background of the study, research problem and objectives, justification of the research and a brief study of the search methodology that is used. Chapter 2 is about the previous studies conducted on nutritional labeling and consumer behavior. It also discusses the socio-economic factors which influence consumer buying behavior towards reading nutritional labeling on packaged food products in Karachi. Chapter 3 focuses on the research methodology, research design, sampling techniques, data analysis method, research design, as well as limitations to this research. In Chapter 4, the focus is on the research findings, Chapter 5 on analysis of the data that has been collected from respondents through questionnaires. Chapter 6 is Conclusion and recommendations that have been derived from this research are in Chapter 7.

Literature Review:

Printed nutrition labels are proposed to be used to help people make healthier choices, and consumers recognize them as a tool to improve health. Consumers can get relevant nutritional information with the help of nutritional labeling. It is found in researches that the consumer purchase behavior is affected by the nutritional labeling. The presence of nutritional information may influence the consumers to switch from unhealthy food products towards healthy food products (Anderson &Zarkin, 1992). The interest on the consumers is to purchase and intake of improved nutritional foods which thus depends on the quantity and quality of information provided through a number of sources that also includes nutritional labeling. A printed label not only carries a brand name but also a source of important information (Caswell &Padberg, 1999).

CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:

Due to globalization, consumers are becoming more aware about nutritional information because there is an increase in the food information available to them through sources such as food nutritional labeling, electronic and print media.Advertising involvement is another marketing concept that helps to identify consumer interest in processing making information. The impact of advertising creates a perception in the minds of consumers regarding the product and increases the awareness and reinforces the consumer to purchase a certain brand that has high advertisement involvement (Kapoor&Kulshrestha, 2008).

As the consumers have become more demanding now days therefore the producers have understand the psychology of consumers and guide them with practical knowledge to cater the market and serve the people. Consumers can end up making better food choices if they value and make use of the nutritional labeling.

The government is also playing an essential part by imposing restrictions on the consumption of some products. Therefore, they are regulating product labeling especially on food processing where it is manufactured. This has a positive effect on consumer's behavior as they can get to know the amount of nutrients content present in a food. (Senesi et al, 2006).

NUTRITIONAL LABELLING:

The nutritional labels have become increasingly important, particularly as products move from the status of basic commodities to highly processed, value-added products significance of a well-balanced diet. Nutrition information on groceries items allows consumers to consume a range of healthy foods, maintain optimum weight and choose a diet with low fat/ cholesterol. Select a diet with abundance of vegetables, fruits, and grain products, and restrain from sugars, salt/sodium that are considered unhealthy. Consumers can use health claims, which appear on the front of food packages, to recognize foods with positive nutritional qualities related to risk factors and wellness. These are the claims about the relationship between a nutrient or a food and the risk of an illness or health-related condition (Jeddi&Zaeim, 2010).

A label might carry only the brand name or a great deal of nutritional information (Kotler, 2001). A label is the most important point of contact between the manufacturer and the buyer and it is consider as an important part of marketing as well. It is not only consider a piece of paper stuck on the package but also an expression on which consumer important decisions are based. A label should clearly and simply state the name of the product, the nutrition facts (nutritional label), the net weight, the name and address of the producer, and the brand name.

The label printed on the packaged food is mostly viewed before purchasing the product which portrays that the label has an impact on the buying behavior of individuals. Consumer's inclination to a food item is directly affected by self-control and temptation. (Hassan et al., 2010), (Campos et al., 2011).

The printed food labels act as an indicating tool by which food companies assure that their potential consumers are satisfied regarding to their sound quality control practices. However, there are many issues and questions related to food labeling till date, one such question has been raised around the globe which is how far the consumer is aware of printed food labeling and can they understand the provided relevant information on the package.

Consumers who are more health conscious have a habit of reading the label. They prefer to purchase an item that fulfills their daily nutritional value even if the brand is of higher price than the other brands available in market. This behavior can also be applied on consumers who have medical problems such as diabetes or cholesterol. This shows that certain category of consumers is willing to pay a higher price for nutrients beneficial for them (Magistris et al., 2010).

Nutritional label benefits the consumers to analyze the factors of packaged food which allow them to have a healthier diet choice. According to the mechanism of the body they can balance the amount food to consume that will help them to stay fit in long run (Drichoutis et al., 2008).

The consumers in Middle East give preference to the label at the time of first purchase. A study was carried out which showed that when consumers purchase the product for the first time they read the nutrients present in the food and on latter purchase of the same food & brand they check the date till which they can use the product and the date of manufacture (Washi, 2012).

Consumers also take into consideration of the health claims relation to nutrition such as vitamin, protein, sugar free and etc. people believe them to be true and help them to make the decision quicker. If certain health claim is present in front they grasp the product and further read the nutrient label to know that what other good nutrients are present in it. Consumers prefer that short and easy words are used so that they can understand them easily. Moreover if the claims are approved by FDA it gives an added advantage and surety that an agency is keeping a check on companies (Williams, 2005).

The consumers with the help of labeling gets to know and understand the products characteristics, nutritional properties, preservation and instructions to facilitate the consumers to make a sound decision at the time of purchase, hence it carries a great significance (Senesi et al, 2006).

By identifying the factors that have an effect on the people's use of dietary labeling, the manufacturers can do the profiling of the consumers that do or do not exercise nutritional food labeling. It can result in improving public health, manipulating the proper labeling and increasing the productivity of the company (Senesi et al, 2006). Similarly the people who have much time to spend on grocery shopping are found to be more label users (Drichoustis 2006). It can also be seen that consumers who are more anxious about their health and nutrition give more time to read the printed nutritional labels. Similarly, consumers who are on a special diet or organic buyers or even those that have any kind of disease are preferred to search for on-pack printed nutrition information (Drichoustis 2006). Type of household also holds effect on reading of printed nutritional labels, as in a case where smaller households or households with young children are more involved in nutrition information search behaviors.

People with a healthier profile and eating habits prefer to see glance at the printed nutritional labeling for a more appropriate knowledge of the product. Moreover printed nutritional labeling is not directly linked with price and is preferred by people following a special diet plan or with health related issues like high BP, sugar, heart diseases or any kind of food allergies (Magistris et al., 2010). Printed nutritional labeling empowers consumers to have their own view at the components of the products which enables them to have a healthier diet choice in a way which they can intake in their busy life style now a days. (Drichoutis et al., 2008).

The effects of printing nutritional labeling can be even greater on the buying behavior of consumer and they can be more educated if labeling is combined with an information campaign. It has been found in the research that purchasing behavior of consumers is effected by the nutritional information present on the label because this information influence their perception about the products and thus change their decision ultimately (Drichoustis 2006). It seems like Nutritional information on the back of the package creates favorable judgments about a product. For example, when a consumer reads the nutrients content on the back of the packaged food product which are beneficial for their health they will compare that particular product with other products and will be more likely to purchase that product.

Other researchers have argued that provision of health related or printed nutritional labeling information does not always lead to healthier consumption of diet. Most empirical research, however, suggests that providing printed nutritional labeling information can significantly change dietary patterns in a consumer's lifestyle of eating (Drichoustis 2006). Printing of Nutritional labels is also associated with giving consumers an edge to improve their diets by intake of high vitamin C, low cholesterol, and low percentage of calories from fat as they are now able to know what exactly they are consuming.

Printed nutrition labeling on packaged foods are very clear sources of nutrition information for the consumers. They are observed as a highly trustworthy source of information and many consumers use it as their guidance in order to make purchase decisions easy. (Campos et al., 2011). It is often seen that there are consumers who considers printed nutritional labeling on the products during their shopping experiences and are happy to pay even a premium on the products having printed nutritional labeling on them. (Loureiro et al., 2006).

Printed nutrition labeling information lowers down the usage of products which contain harmful ingredients and increases the consumption of products containing healthy ingredients. (Drichoutis et al., 2006).

Purpose of printed nutritional labeling is to educate consumers to shift to healthier food choices, and force the competitors to add more printed nutritional value in their product and to competition on nutritional quality; printed nutritional labeling represents a helpful tool making consumers make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle. (Daud et al., 2011).

Nutritional labeling enables the consumers to have a view at the components of the products which enables them to have a healthier diet choice in which they can improve their intake of the require nutritious and proteins (Drichoutis et al., 2008). Nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods are very clear sources of nutrition information. They are perceived as a highly trustworthy source of information and many consumers use their guidance in order to make purchase decisions (Campos et al., 2011). The results show that there are consumers who considers nutritional labeling on the products during their shopping experiences and are happy to pay even a premium on the products having nutritional labeling on them (Loureiro et al., 2006). Nutrition labeling information decreases the use of products containing harmful components and improves the consumption of the products containing healthy components (Drichoutis et al., 2006). Customers do consider nutritional labeling when making a purchasing decision. Especially the old age people or individuals who are sick or with a special diet recommended having at least tertiary education read nutritional labeling. Moreover households with less than four members were willing to pay more for the nutritional labels (Prathiraja et al., 2003).

As a whole nutritional labeling has a huge impact on consumer purchase behavior. There is some evidence that nutrition labeling makes consumers to switch products on the name of healthy and unhealthy diet plans. The preference for nutrient intake usually depends on the demand and supply of the product. From the demand perspective, consumer's interest in purchase of healthy diets directly depends on consumers intakes. Consumer's ability to make a decision regarding healthy diets usually depends on the information available through different sources (Prathiraja&Ariyawardana, 2008).

If the products does not contain label the consumer may be unaware of its nutritional contents. Consumers usually form their own belief regarding the nutritional value of the product on the basis of information that they get from different sources, However this perception usually lead to either over or under value of the nutritional labeling of the product. Choosing food usually contains a trade of between taste and health contents of a particular product have negative impact on health because individuals usually perceived that decreasing the consumption of the food can lead to improve health conditions (Prathiraja&Ariyawardana, 2008).

The results give a clear signal that printed labels is not linked with gender and age though its consumption relates with the income levels, education and occupation of the consumers. Most lifestyle products such as breakfast cereals, readymade dressings etc. that would mostly be used by people who have relatively higher levels of income and education would pay more attention to various kinds of label information (Sushil Kumar & Jabir Ali, 2011).

In the context of emerging economies, very little is known regarding consumers' expectations and their response to printed food label information (Wang et al., 2008). Pakistan's emerging economy is witnessing exceptional boom in the organized retail growth. Its consumers are in the process of changing their consumption/buying behavior especially with respect to food items. Consumption of processed and packaged food items has grown tremendously in the recent past. There is an increase in the demand for healthy food products and with this kind of change in lifestyle and consumption pattern, the quality of food and its safety standards are becoming essential from public policy perspective.

ROLE OF FDA (FOOD AND DRUG ASSOCIATION) IN NUTRIONAL LABELLING:

Labeling is a part of packaging. Label can be defined as an attachment to the product but according to the Food and Drug Association (FDA), a label is the chief point of contact between the manufacturer and the purchaser. It is described as a crucial part of the manufacturer's marketing plan. FDA further explains that the label should carry the name, brand name and the net weight of the product with nutrition facts along with some details of the manufacturer. These food labels increases in complexity as the food products moves from basic commodities to highly process. It therefore keeps a check of the quantity of sugar, fiber, protein that is consumed and allows the purchasers to make an informed decision of the product. (FDA,1998).

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With the guidance of dietary health experts, consumers can utilize the nutritional labeling to make better choices and to maintain a well-balanced diet. According to FDA (1998), consumers can enjoy a variety of foods; have a hale and hearty diet with low cholesterol/fats. Take a diet with different fruits or grains and can moderate the usage of salt and/or sodium if nutrition information is practiced. Hence, it carries a relationship between the nutrients and the threat of a disease.

If the packaged food products are not labeled, customers may not be aware of their nutrient content. If the consumers form their own belief about nutrient content based on advertising or their own knowledge about food, it can result in underestimation or overestimation of the food content in untagged food products (Anderson and Zarkin, 1992).

Especially for prepared food products, nutritional labeling is required more often (Godwin, Henderson, & Thompson, 2006). Recently Food and Drug Association (FDA) conducted a research for anticipated changes in the plan and for the usage of the current labels. Therefore, with the sample size of 160 consumers to know if they use the labeling and if so, which part of it is more useful? Almost 21% consumers said that they always examine the tagging while the majority of them told that they often use the label before purchasing the item for consumption. Component of the label most frequently read is of fats, calorie, sugar and fiber contents. The list of ingredients with the health statements were read less. Respondents using high calorie food items like chips, sodas, bakery products etc. said that that do not make use of calorie part while two thirds of them said that they use the labeling rather than relying on their food knowledge and they do understand the importance of labeling.

So it can be understood that majority of the respondents use and understand the significant of nutritional labeling and perceived themselves as knowledgeable consumers but a large survey has to be conducted to find the complete awareness and the consumers indulgent. (Godwin, Henderson, & Thompson, 2006). A consideration to the food tagging can influence a change in purchasing pattern that can result in improving health. (McLean 2001). FDA with its efforts of providing food information on packaged food items educates the consumers and helps them in the purchasing decision (Satia, Galanko&Neuhouser, 2001).

CONSUMER AWARENESS ABOUT PACKAGED FOOD PRODUCT:

A study was conducted in Islamabad to identify the response of consumer buying behavior in terms of packaging and nutritional labeling. The result showed that Pakistani marketing is getting aware of the nutritional facts of a packaged product. Further, it illustrates that Consumers read the content when they buy packaged food of a particular brand. If repetition is carried out then only manufacture date and expiry date is taken into consideration. The study also found out that a lot of people only check the dates to determine the nutrients. Also, people are still unaware that how much each nutrient is desired by their body and the concept of daily consumption/per meal consumption in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle (Zaidi, 2012).

Another study was conducted in our neighboring country, India on Assessing Awareness and Usage Level of Indian Consumer and Influences on Food Buying Behavior. The research show that consumer seek extended information on labels.

The result showed satisfactory level of awareness about information available on labels displayed on packaged food and people just skim through the nutrient facts before purchasing the product. In the market consumers also give high value to ingredients and nutrients. Whereas the brand and taste of product is the factor that is consider more as compare to the nutritional value. if these two are liked and the nutrients present are harmful for their health even then product will be purchased (kumar, 2008).

Another study conducted in Europe on consumer response to nutrition information on food labels shows that people are aware of the importance of nutrition information on packaged foods. Consumers are aware that in order to maintain a healthy life nutritional food must be taken, therefore they try to make use of the information present on the label as much as they can. However the preference among the consumer differs while purchasing the packaged food such as likeable taste and etc. Secondly consumers prefer to have a simple and easy to understand nutrition information printed on the package. Complicated information and usage of too many jargons leads to confusion and consume their time. They like if noticeable printing to highlight the information as it will catch the eye at once and will also grab the attention of the consumers who are not in the habit of reading the label. Another point that was identified in the study was related to the format of the label and the technical terms including numbers, calculations and even percentages make it difficult for the consumer to decide among the products (Grunert, 2006).

Therefore it is extremely beneficial if we find out the likeable ways that grabs the attention of the consumer. The ways would differ depending upon the nature of the product. The psychology of a consumer would be kept in mind while providing the information so that it becomes noticeable and every time when she/he purchases the product reads the label. (Kremers et al. 2006).

A research carried out on whether consumers look at nutrition labeling showed it depends on the demographics factors that which nutrients ( sugar, fat, calories) are preferred by the consumers and how much are they interested in reading the nutritional label (Drichoutis et al. 2006).

A research paper highlighted that nutrition label on the packaged food can guide consumers to maintain and improve their diet plan and make choices among the food. The effect of nutritional information has a positive impact in switching from one product to another due to beneficial nutrients present in the food. On the other hand nutritional label also have a negative impact on the manufacturer as consumers would avoid the food products that have high content of sugar and fats present it (Nayga, 2006).

Consumer search for product information is an active process that involves reading nutritional labeling and then comparing them with other product's information and after evaluation of each product's information a consumer makes a right decision for purchase. The main cost for a consumer in searching information through label use is the time he/she spends on reading labels; the benefits of this will be healthier food choices. Consumers that are health conscious or have poor health condition through this will be able to search for a more nutritious diet and a healthy life, thus reducing all the risk of an unhealthy diet.

Consumers may be aware about the importance of nutritional labeling but time can be an obstacle for the people who have to accomplish plenty of tasks. The purchase decision of employed consumers regarding the quality of product can be low, the reason being less time to spare on labeling than the unemployed consumers who have the time to make an appropriate decision regarding the quality of food products they will purchase (Kim, Nayga& Capps, 2001). People make use of the label for various purposes but consumers should be encouraged to use the label more often and create awareness on how to apply this information more efficiently and conveniently (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 2004). Therefore, policy makers should identify different ways on how to motivate people to change the behavior of reading nutritional labeling before purchase of the packaged product.

According to the Lancaster Product Characteristics theory in 1966, the consumers are able to recognize and measure the important attributes of the goods available in the market and then make perceptions about each product or brand. The product characteristics are the basis for involving consumers into information search. This information search is primarily for printed nutritional labeling of the products and secondary factors are its price, advertisement or brand name.

There are many issues and questions related to food labeling. One such question that has been raised across continents is how far the consumers are aware of food labels and can they comprehend the information provided on the labels. Further, how far the aware consumers take into consideration food label information while making purchase decisions? These questions are very pertinent in today's business environment when food companies are coming under stringent regulatory pressures to disseminate correct and appropriate information regarding food items. These labeling regulations essentially reflect response to consumer's right to know the content and nutrition of a particular food product. The objective of these regulations is to provide consistent, understandable, and usable labels that can help consumers make informed and healthier food choices (Sushil Kumar & Jabir Ali, 2011).

Nutrition information may assist label use by increasing its benefits and by increasing the efficiency of their use. Levy and Fein (1998) revealed the effect of knowledge on consumers' ability to perform nutrition label use tasks. In Addition, Guthrie et al. (1995) found a positive relationship between label use and nutrition knowledge, indicating the value of nutrition knowledge as a determinant of label use (Nayga, 2000). On the other hand, it is found that nutrition knowledge does not affect label use (Fox, Hamilton, & Lin, 2004).These differences in results could be due to differences in methods, samples, timing of the study, etc. Our study will search this complex relationship of nutrition knowledge and label use.

Nutritional labeling is found to affect the consumer buying behavior significantly. Evidence reveals that nutrition information may influence consumers to switch utilization away from unhealthful food products to 'healthy' food products more easily (Anderson &Zarkin, 1992).Improvements in nutrient intake of the population depend on the contact of demand and supply forces in food markets. On the demand side, consumers' interest in the purchase of diets and products with better nutritional label has a direct effect on nutrient intake. Therefore, Consumers' skill to choose their diets depends partly on the quantity and quality of information available through a diversity of sources, as well as nutrition panel food labels (Jeddi&Zaeim, 2010).

CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT:

The importance of consumer behavior can be understood through the consumers' involvement for the products and services and how different characteristics are considered important for making the purchasing decision. For packaged food products, nutritional labeling helps consumers to make purchasing decisions where consumer buying behavior has most significant impact. Many researchers have identified that for food products, quality attributes for foods are freshness, handiness, nutritional values, healthy, safety perception, and label of products (Nielsen, 2002; Ophuis&Trijp, 1996).

Consumer involvement is defined as the consumer's interest of an object (e.g. product or brand, advertisement, or purchase situation) based on the natural needs, values, and interests of the person (Solomon et. al., 2004). Consumer involvement play an important part in buying behavior as it diverts their attention to a brand, product or service depending on his or her needs and requirement. It is important to link consumer involvement of a product with consumer buying behavior to understand the impact of nutritional labeling on consumer buying behavior. (Anderson & Zarkin,1992).

Personal factor, stimulus factor and situational factor are important components of consumer involvement. These factors have different effect on consumer behavior and can lead them towards information search of a product through different sources that include nutritional labeling as well (Kapoor&Kulshrestha, 2008). Purchase decision of consumers can depend on the type of involvement they have for a product through which their behavior can be determined. Consumer search for the information and choice for a product can be based on the degree of involvement they have and their behavior will change accordingly.

Trustworthiness of claims is becomes very important in situations where there is high consumer involvement such as in case of i.e. diabetic patients, heart patients or etc. (Aschemann et al., 2008).

NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE:

Nutrition knowledge may support label use as it helps in increasing its perceived benefits and effectiveness, in this manner reducing the cost of using labels. It has been found that there is a relationship between nutrition knowledge and the label use of specific nutrients. Moorman and Matulich (1993) showed that if consumer has a high level of health knowledge it will have a positive effect on information purchase from media sources (including nutrition label reading). Consumer in search for more nutritional knowledge will look for more nutritional information. In addition, other research also revealed the positive effect of knowledge on consumer's ability to perform nutrition label use tasks. Consumers can gain more knowledge as they read more nutritional labels from the products they acquire. It is also found that label use increased the information about vitamins, minerals, fats; calories and other nutrients thus ultimately improved consumer's nutrition knowledge.

The study of Wandel (1995) shows that women, specially the highly educated and ones who are on special diets, tend to read the food labels to a greater extent than others (c.f. Wandel, 1997). Many researchers have also found out that the interest in reading the printed nutritional labels increases with age of upto the mid-fifties, and after that it declines. The typical printed nutritional label readers are reported to be middle-aged woman with high education (Wandel, 1995).

One of the important matters that are taken into consideration is whether reading nutritional labeling with all its benefits influence the buying decision of a consumer or other factors likes for e.g. taste etc. effect their decision more. In 1990 Diet and Health Survey report (Derby and levy,2001) report that one third of consumers had changed their purchase decision for a product after reading the information on nutritional label. According to the above statement, in another survey Derby 1995 reports that almost 48% consumers have changed their purchasing behavior due to nutritional labeling. In 1996 survey one-third of people that are interviewed said they change their mind for buying a product that they used to purchase because they now read nutritional label. One in four consumers that have health issues have started to acquire or use a product that they didn't use before based on the nutrition label.

Another study found that labeling foods as low-fat increased the amount of consumption up to 50%. While consumers with a normal weight prevent them from consuming excess low fat food, on the other hand it is found that overweight consumers did not prevent them from over-eating low-fat foods. If the food was labeled low-fat consumers eat more by 20-25% than for a food with a regular label. Overweight consumers were more strongly influenced by the low-fat labeling, seeing it as a license to eat more.

There have been researches done on a large scale of countries which suggests that a lot of consumers appreciate printed nutritional labeling and find them to be an important aspect while making purchase decisions, especially while buying a new product for the very first time. Consumer who read printed nutritional labeling on food items tends to usually compare them to other products and see the difference of how much fat and calories both the products contains. Printed Nutritional labeling also reassures more healthful diet plans for those people who read the printed labels.

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR:

Time pressure, working status and income are some of the factors that are found to affect nutrition information search. It is also found that the time consumers spend on grocery shopping affects nutritional label use. The more a consumer feels that his health is likely to experience in the future that is the greater will be nutritional information search. Research on consumers suggests that health risk motivate them to increase their information search.

Consumers that give importance on price are not likely to read nutritional labeling while purchasing packaged food products. It seems like consumers who are price conscious only look for price information and restrain them from exploratory nutritional information on labels (Drichoutis, Lazaridis&Nayga, 2005).Whereas, people placing high importance on nutrition is more likely to use nutritional labels or to use precise nutrient information (Drichoutis, Lazaridis&Nayga, 2005). Price may also manipulate your perception of a product as being greater or mediocre, or the differentiation in deciding between products if more than one comes to your requirements.

There is an amount of internal and external forces that participate for a consumer's buying behavior in a business environment. Internal factors include taste, prior experience, politics, and personal limits. External factors, such as the acquisition environment, availability, price, peer pressure, can influence consumer's purchasing decision. The extent to which these influences affect any decision depends on the individual consumer (Natalie, 2007).

Personality traits have been shown to influence consumer decision-making behavior. The personality variables self-confidence and anxiety were reported to be related to consumer choice behavior. Other researches emphasize upon the effects of life-style and self-perception on consumers' purchase intention or behavior towards packaged food products. Consumer's preference towards a brand is directly affected by self-control and temptation. (Hassan et al., 2010). People with healthier eating habits prefer to see nutritional labeling. Moreover nutritional labeling is not affected by price and is preferred by people following a special diet plan or with problems like sugar, heart diseases. (Magistris et al., 2010).

Packaging has also been use as a determinant for the quality of food products including the format of nutritional label used on it. Those categories of packaged food products on which that research is based are on Baby food, Tin food, Beverages and cereal/snacks. Different attributes of quality are important to different users.

Research indicates that there is a strong association of packaging as more than 70% consumers state that they believe on packaging to facilitate their decision-making process at the POP (point of Purchase) (Wells et al., 2007). The study examines the fact that consumers tend to be attracted by the graphics on packaging of printed label which can influence purchase intentions of the consumers. This suggests that graphical packaging could be misleading and can affect the consumer's buying behavior. (Bone, 2001).

According to Anderson and Anderson (1991), there are two methods that may be used to evaluate packaged food quality, i.e. consumers can use their past experience such as taste, texture attributes, price, brand name, packaging, and credibility to determine the quality of packaged food products. What cues do consumers use to assess packaged food product quality? When considering sensory evaluation of packaged food products one has to think of both intrinsic quality cues such as species, fat content, protein, calories and other appearance and extrinsic quality cues including price, convenience, origin, handling. How do consumers perceive packaged food product quality? A hierarchical value plan for packaged food products where the perceived quality of packaged food products related to taste, texture, health (the content of vitamins and minerals) perceived nutrition and lack of convenience was identified.

In most of the cases, many shopping decisions are focus to individual taste and liking, which will affect the perception of the product. This is mainly proper of prejudiced products such as fashion and food. Think about two packaged food products of the similar size and create but in unlike packaging. You may buy that packaged food product more often if you like the packaging, so a packaged food product in your favorite packaging better meets your requirements.

Our study tries to examine why consumers make use of such information on the products in making purchase decisions based on their level of understanding. It can be found that consumers living in Pakistan especially Karachi lack satisfactory level of awareness about the different types of printed information of food labels being presented on packaged food products. However, practice of such information being noticed and read by the consumer while purchasing packaged food products is relatively low as consumers mostly depend on the tradition to follow a strong preference for the brand or taste of the product. This tradition to follow strong brand or taste preference makes the consumer to buy a packaged food even though it might not meet their criteria of healthy food or might be harmful as it could contain some ingredients not suitable with their health. Therefore, it becomes very necessary for authorities to keep a thorough check on those food processing companies that whether they put proper printed information related to ingredients on the product before sending it out into in the market (Sushil Kumar & Jabir Ali, 2011).Due to creating value for customers big multi-national food processing companies with well-known brand names in local and international market, must be aware and need to be conscious about their responsibility when introducing new products with standardized packaging in the market.

There is a rising trend in Pakistan where people are concerned about their health, the importance of nutrition and its relationship towards their life style. The purpose towards this topic is the consumer's awareness concerning the information on the Nutritional labels on Product packaging and to identify whether these nutritional labels help consumers to take right decisions while choosing a pre-packaged product.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

RESEARCH DESIGN:

This will be a quantitative research as we will see the buying behavior of our respondents and our focus will be on objectivity and accuracy. We will see whether nutritional labeling changes the consumers' buying behavior or not.

PROCEDURE:

A number of steps of our research are given below:

Research approach: survey approach

Instrument: questionnaire

Data source: Primary and Secondary data

Prepare close ended questionnaire for the middle and upper middle class segments

The approach use for this research will be personal and Consumers who read labels before purchasing of products will be the respondent of our questionnaire

We will get the forms filled by local consumers visiting the malls and various superstores

The questionnaire will be filled by the consumer during their shopping so that the respondent will able to fill out the actual status of their shopping. We will make sure that there is no confusion and the research objectives are easily comprehended by the respondent.

POPULATION:

The source of data collection will be primary. The middle and upper middle class of Karachi buying products that have nutritional labeling on them. The research included 50% male and 50% female respondents, as both male and female buyers are involved in purchasing decisions of packaged food products (Prathiraja & Ariyawardana, 2003).The respondents' age lies in the range of 15 to 60 years above which helped in identifying different responses through wider range. The household monthly income level of buyers lies in the range from RS 30,000- 100,000 and above, to include middle-income and higher income group. The area of residence of respondents was also taken into consideration where buyers belonged to different areas of Karachi city like Defence/Clifton, KDA/Bahadarabad/PECHS, Nazimabad, and Gulshane Iqbal/ Gulastane-Jauhar.

SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHOD:

The method that we will use in sampling technique is non-probability based which is convenience oriented and all the malls and stores that fall under the range of our convenience will be counted. This technique is used because we want to reduce time constraints, unnecessary delay in the research and want easy access to the right information from our respondents. The sample size for this research will be 150 consumers.

INSTRUMENT SELECTION:

The source of data collection will be primary as we will ask the respondents to fill the questionnaire. For this research the method of data collection will be questionnaire and the questionnaire will be in close ended form. Their answers which will be related to their experiences and knowledge will be studied and checked based on statistical tests to derive the conclusion.

VARIABLES:

This research focuses upon two variables which are nutritional labeling and consumer buying behavior. The purpose of the study is to identify the factors that affect the nutritional food label in relation with the income, education, age, gender of the consumers with respect to their social level, while secondary objective of the research is to identify the characteristics of consumers and the extent of knowledge concerning nutritional value (Sushil Kumar & Jabir Ali, 2011) .Moreover this research helps to find the relation between printed nutrition value on packaged food product and the consumer buying behavior. Consumers will choose better food products if they understand and use the food labels The study explores the complex relationship of nutrition knowledge and consumer buying decision (Drichoutis, Lazaridis and Nayga,2006). The study can help to determine that printed nutritional value on packaged food products is essential for the customer buying decision or not. In the context to nutritional labeling, many customer switch towards other products after reading printed nutrition value such as fat, calories etc. The study also identifies those nutrition values which have a negative effect on consumer buying behavior.

HYPOTHESIS: To study the relation of printed nutritional value and consumer buying behavior, the following hypotheses were developed:

H1: Gender of the respondent has a positive impact on reading the printed nutritional value of packaged food products.

H2: Age of the respondent has a positive impact on reading the printed nutritional value of packaged food products.

H3: Education of the respondent has a positive impact on reading the printed nutritional value of packaged food products.

H4: Average household income of the respondent has a positive impact on reading the printed nutritional value of packaged food products.

PLAN OF ANALYSIS: Through descriptive statistics method we will analyze the mean, standard deviation, and percentage of variables, for directing an initial generalized analysis and identifying the sample structure of this study.

SOFTWARE EMPLOYED: The software we are going to use in this research will be SPSS. Microsoft Excel will be used if required.

RESEARCH SCHEDULE: This research is completed in sixteen week time. First draft is submitted in the 3rd week of our semester. The proposal is submitted in the 4th week.

RESEARCH FINDINGS:

The objectives of the study were achieved through a questionnaires; which is attached in Appendix A.200 respondents of different age, gender, income and education level were selected from different areas of karachi mainly from P.E.C.H.S, Bahadarabad, DHA, Nazimabad, Gulistan-e-Johar etc in order to know the factors which influence them to read nutritional information of the food products and that ultimately affect their buying behavior.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

The dependent variables are consumers buying behavior and purchase decision which is the variables of primary interest, in which the variance is attempted to be explained by the independent variable that is printed nutritional labeling on packaged food products. The moderating variable which has contingent effect on the independent variable-dependent variable relationship is the consumer's knowledge about labeling on packaged food products. Intervening variable is one that surfaces between the time the independent variable start opening to influence dependent variable and the time that impact felt on it which is reading the printed nutritional labeling on packaged food products.

Printed nutritional labeling play a vital role in making consumers to switch between two similar products, as it becomes a source of knowledge and information for them at the time of purchase. The consumers believe that the products offered by them are tested and safe.

Consumers are more influenced towards those packaged products which have printed nutritional labeling as they become more aware of what they are actually consuming. They are more attracted and influenced with the products that have proper nutritional labels printed. The other important factors which help in influencing the consumers decision while making purchases is the fact that most of the people have limited time when they go for grocery shopping and thus give less importance to the labels and grab those items which have been already consumed by them. Other factors include income, age, gender, and education level of the consumers.

Advertising also plays the important role in educating and making its customers believe that they are using the product which is best for them and confusing the consumers to buy the product. Purchasing of product at the time of decision can dependent on several factors like the more the promotion the higher the usage rate but sometimes it also got effected due to the personal factors or social factors or sometimes consumer preferences also got change.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE:

Consumer buying behavior

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE:

Printed Nutritional Labeling

MODERATING VARIABLE:

Consumers knowledge of nutritional labeling

INTERVENING VARIABLES:

Taking out time to read or go through the printed labeling on packaged food.

Consumer Buying Behavior

Frequency of reading or going through a printed label

Printed Nutritional Labeling

DV

Consumer's information and Knowledge regarding IDV

IV

MV

RECCOMENDATION:

From the study we have found that nowadays healthy lifestyle is being adopted by most consumers and therefore printed nutritional labeling on packaged food products should be must on all food products especially frozen and tin food products.

This study is also beneficial for the producers or the companies dealing in food industry as they are the ones who will produce the product to consumers so they should know that how important it is for consumers to know what they are actually consuming and for that it is important to have printed nutritional labeling on the product is very necessary as they can lose their existing and potential customers.

Printed nutrition labeling can also act as a competitive advantage for a product by its interesting design and attractive format. it can make a different trade mark for a product and can give competition to its competitors. 

Moreover, this study can also help our government to apply such rules and regulations on the companies operating in the food industry that they should give proper focus on the printing of nutritional food labels. On the other hand, the information from our study can help the government to keep a check that all companies from the food industry are certified under the terms and condition of the government and are ethically practicing their work.

Definitions of key terms:

Products/packed food: Ready to eat items that are available on shelf such as snacks, drinks, chocolates, dairy products, bakery items, and etc. this also includes items that are half cooked (frozen foods).

Nutrition label: It is a label that is found on the package of the food, that provides information about the nutrition facts of the food i.e. calories, sugar, carbohydrates, fat, protein and etc. it also includes list of ingredients that are used to prepare the packed food.

Nutrients: These are essential chemicals that are required by body to build and repair the tissues and regulate the body mechanism. The nutrients are converted into energy which is utilized by the body for proper functioning of the system. 

Diet: it is the total amount of food consumed by the individual.

Food label: A panel found on a package of food which contains a variety of information about the nutritional value of the food item.

Consumer awareness: The product benefits by an individual of their rights as a consumer concerning available products and services being marketed and sold

Influence: power of making decision, authority to make choice.

Nutritional labeling: Nutrition labeling is information found on the labels of prepackaged foods.

Packaging: Packaging is defined in the regulations as "all products which are made up of different kind of materials from any nature to be utilized for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and preservation of goods to the end user or consumers from the producer "

Education level: development of knowledge.

FDA (Food and drug association): It is US association of health and human service which is responsible for protecting public health through the regulation and supervision of food products, tobacco products,dietary supplements, prescriptions and over the counter pharmaceuticals.

Perceived quality: is defined as the customer's awareness of the quality or dominance of a product or service with respect to its proposed reason, relative