THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD LABEL ANALYSIS FOR CONSUMERS

Food labeling is an important communication tool between consumer and product, providing information related to the composition, characteristics, and nutritional aspects of food. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the importance of analyzing food labels before consumption, in order to investigate consumers' knowledge, main interpretation difficulties, and perception of how this information influences food choices. To this end, the research followed an applied, descriptive, and quantitative methodological approach using an electronic questionnaire via google forms, containing 10 questions, made available between May 28 and June 7, 2025, at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), yielding a total of 80 responses. Among the participants, 60% were female and 40% male, with a predominance of the 18 to 25 age group (36.6%), followed by participants over 30 years old (30%), under 18 years old (25%), and 25 to 30 years old (8.8%). Regarding perception of labels, 73.8% associated their function with product identification and 20% with safety. Concerning reading habits, 28.7% stated they always look at labels, 51.2% checked them occasionally, and 20% did not have this habit. Regarding the "portion size" information in the nutrition facts panel, 58.8% declared understanding its meaning, while 23.8% had heard the term but did not know how to interpret it, and 17.5% were unfamiliar with it. The majority (97.5%) recognized that understanding labels can contribute to a healthier diet. However, 55% did not understand ingredients with complex names, such as corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable fat. As for the occurrence of allergic reactions related to not reading ingredients, 13.8% reported having experienced this situation. It was also observed that 82.5% had never received guidance from healthcare professionals on label interpretation. The main difficulties pointed out were difficult terms (36.3%), lack of interest (30%), small print (26.3%), specific terms (6.3%), and unclear or non-standardized presentation of information (1.2%). Despite these limitations, 91.3% showed interest in learning how to interpret labels, and 96.3% considered that this information should be clearer and easier to understand. Given the above, it is concluded that although consumers recognize the importance of labeling for making more conscious and safe food choices, limitations regarding information comprehension persist. The results also highlight the need for educational actions and strategies that promote greater clarity and accessibility of food labels.