Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on consumers' food label reading behaviours and trust in food label information.

Purpose. There are many studies investigating people's eating habits during the COVID-19 period, and people have been encouraged to eat healthier. Healthy nutrition is made possible by making healthy food choices and food labels are one of the tools that help consumers make healthy food choices. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers' food label reading behaviours and their level of trust in food labels. Design/methodology/approach. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,012 adults aged 18-65 years from seven different regions of Turkey. Participants' food label reading behaviours and their trust in food label information were assessed using an online questionnaire, and COVID-19 fear scores were determined using the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S). Findings. Although not statistically significant, participants' rate of reading food labels increased during the pandemic (65.6% vs 68.7%, p = 0.078). On the contrary, trust...