The impact of Israel’s Front-of-Package labeling reform on consumers' behavior and intentions to change dietary habits

Table 1 Survey data—Frequency of using FOP labels and intention to change food buying habits following the reform according to socio-demographic and other characteristics

	Entire sample (N = 487)^a	Using FOP labels^b			Intention to change habits in the next year to healthier products following the reform^c
	%	Not at all/ to a small extent (N = 187) (%)	Medium extent (N = 161) (%)	Very large/ large extent (N = 139) (%)	Not at all/ to a small extent (N = 140) (%)	Medium extent (N = 114)(%)	Very large/ large extent (N = 203) (%)
Gender
Women	51.9	36.6	32.3	31.1	27.0	25.8	47.2
Men	48.1	40.3	33.9	25.8	34.4	24.1	41.5
Age
21–39	35.4	39.9	35.8	24.3	30.2	27.2	42.6
40–59	35.6	39.1	31.0	29.9	28.7	25.1	46.1
> 60	29.0	35.7	32.1	32.1	33.6	21.9	44.5
Religion
Jewish	82.8	39.5	32.8	27.8	33.1	24.8	42.1*
Arab	17.2	33.3	34.5	32.1	18.9	28.4	52.7
Marital status
Married	70.7	38.7	32.3	29.1	28.0	26.5	45.5
Not married	29.3	37.8	35.0	27.3	36.6	21.4	42.0
Education
Up to 12 years	36.9	34.8	29.2	36.0*	27.2	23.7	49.1
More than 12 years	63.1	40.3	35.4	24.4	32.4	25.8	41.8
Income
Below average	42.4	35.3	37.5	27.2	29.6	27.8	42.6
Average	27.0	41.0	24.8	34.2	26.6	23.9	49.5
Above average	30.5	40.5	35.9	23.7	33.1	24.4	42.5
Residential region
Tel Aviv and center	43.0	41.1	30.9	28.0	29.4	26.3	44.3
Other	57.0	36.4	34.9	28.7	32.0	23.6	44.4
Extent of religious observance
Ultra-orthodox	9.1	30.2	34.9	34.9	22.0	34.1	43.9
Not ultra-orthodox	90.9	39.2	32.8	28.0	31.4	24.3	44.4
Number of persons in household
2 or below	38.6	37.1	34.9	28.0	34.9	24.3	40.8
3 and above	61.4	39.3	31.9	28.9	28.1	25.3	46.7
Maintain a normal body weight
Not at all/small/medium extent	36.7	48.6	32.8	18.6***	41.7	26.8	31.5**
Large/very large extent	63.3	32.7	33.3	34.0	23.9	23.9	52.3
Chronic illness
No	75.4	38.1	34.8	27.1	30.8	23.6	45.5
Yes	24.6	40.2	28.2	31.6	30.2	28.3	41.5

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
^aNumber of participants (N = 487) does not include those who answered “do not know” to one of the two dependent variables: using FOP labels and intention to change habits in the coming year
^bUsing FOP labels variable is the average of three items. Each item was measured on a 5-point scale categorized as: Not at all/to a small extent: 1–2.4; Medium extent: 2.5–3.5; Very large/large extent: 3.6–5
^cNumber of participants (N = 457) does not include those who reported they do not intend to change habits since they already maintain a healthy diet

ISSN: 2045-4015