Portuguese Food Professionals View on Food and Nutrition Labelling |Biomedgrid

To explore the views of a sample of Portuguese food and nutrition professionals concerning food and nutrition labelling and the EU regulation for prepacked foods. A cross-sectional observational study was done by a self-administered online survey for data collection. Food and nutrition Portuguese entities were contacted to obtain Portuguese food and nutrition professionals. The sample was constituted of 297 participants, 81.1% women, 53.2% married, with an average age of 39 years old, and with academic degrees in the food area/nutrition. Professionals in different areas of activity have distinct views concerning the changes in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Clinical care professionals were more confident in the values presented in the nutrition declaration, and more influenced by labelling information on their food choices. Primary health care, community and public health professionals gave the highest importance and read more frequently the nutrition information, agreed that more detailed information should be provided, believed that front-of-pack nutrition labelling will benefit their professional activity, and supported colour coding. Food industry, innovation, marketing, and laboratory analysis professionals read more frequently the food name, operator, and origin, and agreed more with the inclusion of the food portion size and fiber. Foodservice professionals consulted more often the information on allergens, storage conditions and durability date; were more likely to use labelling; and agreed with the mandatory information being more visible. Research, education, and training professionals did not stand out significantly from the studied aspects. Quality control and food safety, inspection and consulting professionals read more frequently the lot number, were more satisfied with the layout information and agreed that front-of-pack nutrition labelling can lead to a repetition of the information. Different views were found in the way food and nutrition labelling is used, at a professional level, influenced by the different educational backgrounds (educational level and courses) and areas of activity.