Consumer Interest and Marketing Potential of Information on Fish Labels

Food labels are an important source of information to consumers. However, little scientific evidence is available on the type of information consumers seek on product labels and how consumers use food labels. The objective of this study is to assess consumers’ use of mandatory information cues and interest in potential information cues placed on fish labels, packages or shelves in five European countries. A cross-sectional consumer survey was carried out in November-December 2004 in five European countries: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain and a sample representative for age and region within each country has been obtained. Total sample size is 4,786. The results show a high use of on-label information cues; hence, labels were found as good, and potentially market effective sources of information. Consumers were most familiar with expiry date, price, species name and weight and they felt able to derive clear quality expectations from the information these cues convey. Consumers displayed the strongest interest in an additional information cues, such as safety guarantee and a quality mark for seafood. Cross-country differences in both use and interest in fish information cues were observed.