Nutrition students beliefs on the nutritional information and nutritional claims in the pre-packaged food products: an application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This study identified the modal salient behavior, the normative and the control modal beliefson the nutritional label use for the prepackaged food products among the college students.In November 2015, the exploratory qualitative research was conducted with 19 nutritionstudents, applying the concepts of Theory of Planned Behavior. Contents analysis of twoorganized focus groups and the statistical descriptive analysis of quantitative variables wereperformed. Both focus groups mentioned the advantages of the use of nutritional information,as the assistance for choosing the healthy food. A specific disadvantage associated with thementioned nutritional claims was this influence on the purchase decisions (behavioral beliefs).The students mentioned their parents and siblings as the peoples who approve the use of thisinformation, when they purchase a product (normative beliefs). Small lettering and difficultyto interpret the portions size indicated in the nutritional information on the labels were thefactors, which could difficult their use. Making easy to read the nutritional claims tend tostimulate the purchasing decisions (control beliefs). Eleven salient modal beliefs were identified,which may explain participants’ behavior when using information and nutrition claims.