Indian adolescents’ perceptions of packaged food and food labels – A qualitative inquiry

In the last two decades, India has witnessed a dramatic rise in the consumption of packaged foods, especially among adolescents. Food labelling is often recognised as an instrumental population-based approach which can enable consumers to make informed food choices by providing all the necessary details about the food product on the packaging. In the Indian context, where adolescent obesity and the ensuing non-communicable diseases are escalating, it is crucial to understand adolescents' views on the use of non-nutritious packaged foods and food labels. Therefore, the aim of this qualitative inquiry was to explore Indian adolescents' perceptions regarding the consumption of packaged food and use of food labels. Convenience sampling was employed to recruit 29 boys and 15 girls (aged 10-19 years) from rural Varanasi, India. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted in the local language. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and translated to English. Narrative data were subjected to thematic analysis using NVivo software program. The adolescents reported frequent consumption of packaged food like potato chips, biscuits, chocolates, deep-fried Indian snacks both at school and home. Packaged foods were regarded as tasty, safe, and fresh. Brand name, date of expiry and cost were often read by the study respondents. Nevertheless, they reported difficulty in understanding other components of the label (e.g., nutrition information) and they were not aware of the negative impact of consuming unhealthy packaged foods. Nearly all the respondents insisted that food labels should be written in the local language for easy understanding. These emerging findings underscore the need to design school-based food literacy programs for vulnerable Indian adolescents to address obesity and diet-related complications in early adulthood.