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Food Safety Works Consumer Awareness study on food labels reveals 60% check in physical stores but drop to 31% from online buys
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Saturday, 21 June, 2025, 16 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bengaluru
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Food Safety Works annual online survey was conducted to understand how carefully consumers look at labels to interact with them, on what they understand, what is missed and how it influences their purchasing decisions.
“As the food ecosystem grows more complex such insights are essential, to bridge the gap between regulatory intention and consumer behaviour,” said Surabhi Soral, head, regulatory and compliance, Food Safety Works.
“This is significant because we are surveying an audience that is relatively well-educated and urban, yet findings reveal a persistent gap between awareness and actual urge of food label information,” she noted.
One of the most striking insights is that while 60 percent of consumers always check labels in physical stores, but this number drops when shopping online. This inconsistency reflects a growing concern while digitalisation of food shopping is on the rise, label visibility and engagement online remain low. Adding to this, is the fact that many consumers feel labels are hard to read or too technical which leads to disengagement even when the intent to read is there, said Soral while presenting the 60-page report which gives segment wise data based on age, gender and education among others at the day-long India Food Safety Conclave 2025 hosted by Bengaluru-based Food Safety Works.
“Another critical finding is that while 89 percent of consumers regularly check expiry dates, only 37.3 percent check nutrition facts and 27 percent check of allergen warnings. The expiry date seems to be the only consistently understood and acted upon element. While QR codes are showcased as a way to bring transparency and traceability only 31.7 percent reported to have ever scanned them. The smartphone penetration highlights an underutilised opportunity to extend label utility beyond the packaging,” said Soral.
On the positive awareness of health claims and logos like FSSAI is improving with over 54 percent recognising them, with better awareness among younger and more educated respondents. Consumers may recognise ‘high protein’ or ‘low sugar’ but whether they truly grasp the implications of those claims for their health is unclear, she pointed out.
Another area of concern is consumer empowerment. A large majority of respondents, over 92 percent are unaware that they can file complaints with FSSAI. Even among those who had safety concerns, only a small fraction used the customer care contacts on packaging. This represents a systematic communication gap between manufacturers, regulators and consumers.
The comparison with last year’s data paints a sobering picture. The number of people who always check labels fell from 53.6 percent in 2023 to 47.6 percent in 2024, even as the number of people purchasing packaged food weekly increased. It is a paradox as dependency on packaged food rises, label engagement is falling, said Soral.
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