A survey on domestic consumer’s awareness of food additives and Clean Label concept

This survey investigated the perceptions of domestic consumers regarding food additives and ‘Clean Label’ concept. Clean Label aims to provide consumers with information that the food products exclude the addition of artificial ingredients and instead use natural processing method. However, so far, there is no common and clear definition of Clean Label for domestic consumers. In the results, when purchasing food products, consumers expressed concerns about food additives at a high rate among all respondents (63.7%), and the reason were linked to human health. In addition, the survey results on the domestic consumer’s awareness of Clean Label indicated that 74.4% of all respondents had only heard of the term or encountered it for the first time, and 33.6% have never obtained related information or knowledge. Thus, it is still considered that Clean Label is an unfamiliar term with an unclear definition. In this study, domestic consumers perceived the Clean Label to include organic, natural and free from artificial ingredients. Also, they believed that the introduction of Clean Label in the domestic food market is necessary and were willing to pay additional costs for it. In conclusion, to apply the Clean Label concept to food products excluding artificial additives and ingredients, it is important to establish and disseminate a unified definition between consumers and manufacturers.