Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont Self-reported use and understanding of food label information among tertiary education students in Ghana Felix Kwashie Madilo a,b,* , James Owusu-Kwarteng c , Angela Parry-Hanson Kunadu b , Kwaku Tano-Debrah b a Science Department, Bosco's College of Education, Navrongo, Upper East region, Ghana b Nutrition and Food Science Department, University of Ghana, Legon, Greater Accra Region, Ghana c Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Survey Tertiary students Nutrition Food safety ABSTRACT Food packaging labels attract consumers' attention in stores and market areas, and communicates relevant food safety and nutrition information that allows them to distinguish between food product alternatives. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess consumers' self-reported use, knowledge and understanding of food labels among tertiary students in Ghana. A validated questionnaire was used to recruit 1478 students from fourteen (14) public tertiary institutions across the 10 regions to collect information on demographic char- acteristics of respondents, usage and understanding of information provided on food labels, using proportional quota and convenience sampling techniques. The majority of respondents 956 (64.7%) were between the ages of 21 and 30. A total of 463 (31.3%) students read food label ‘very often’ while 892 (60.4%) read food labels ‘sometimes’. While 963 (65.2%) of respondents indicated that information on food labels are very important, 934 (63.2%) still believe that food label information are often not credible. Respondents considered expiring date 1269 (85.9%), date of manufacture 1106 (74.8%) and health warning 1097 (74.2%) as the top three very important information on food labels whereas product value/weight, 654 (44.2%) was considered as least im- portant in choosing particular food products. Respondents generally depend on television programs/advertise- ment, 1349 (91.3%); internets, 1290 (87.3%) and friends and neighbors, 1213 (82.1%) as sources of knowledge regarding food label information. When participants were provided with a sample food label to assess their understanding of food label information, 916 (62.0%) of respondents did not answer the question at all. Out of 562 (38%) who answered the question, only 243 (16.5%) correctly interpreted the information. No significant difference (P > 0.05) exist between ages, sexes, institutions, and university and training college students re- garding their understanding of food label information. Eventhough tertiary education students in Ghana read and attach importance to food label information, they have limited understanding of the information provided on food labels. 1. Introduction Food labels are public health tools that provide important in- formation that consumers use to make food purchasing/consumption decisions. Food labels on food packaging materials attracts consumers' attention in-store and communicates information that allows them to distinguish between product alternatives (Butkevičienė, Stravinskienė, &Rūtelionienė, 2008). Efficient food labels can again serve as a man- agerial tool in choosing healthier foods (Grunert & Wills, 2007)and in controlling food allergies (Voordouw et al., 2009), while expiry dates can help in assessing food safety (Sanlier & Seren Karakus, 2010). Consumers' demand for information on achieving health benefits through food has led to an increased awareness about food safety and nutrition information. This increased awareness is to maintain good health and prevent disease (Ellie Whitney & Rolfes, 2008), which em- phasizes the important role that food labels play in consumers' health maintenance. According to Bosman, Van der Merwe, Ellis, Jerling, and Badham (2014), the South African Department of Health has for ex- ample used food labels as part of a strategy to prevent obesity and to aid consumers in making purchasing decisions. Most importantly, food la- bels provide information to consumers that can considerably simplify their food purchasing decisions which have become complex due to extensive and ever-changing product ranges (Prinsloo, Van der Merwe, Bosman, & Erasmus, 2012) Some important information provided on https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.106841 Received 17 June 2019; Received in revised form 14 August 2019; Accepted 23 August 2019 * Corresponding author. Science Department, Bosco's College of Education, Navrongo, Upper East region, Ghana. E-mail address: fkmadilo@st.ug.edu.gh (F.K. Madilo). Food Control 108 (2020) 106841 Available online 28 August 2019 0956-7135/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T