Determinants of the use of food product information by female workers in Nigerian state universities

Abstract

This study examined the influence of demographic characteristics, perception of food risks and health information literacy on the use of food product information among 561 female staff in eight State Universities in Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that age, perceived risks and health information literacy were the factors that influence the use or non-use of food product information among the respondents. Women who are above 50 years are more likely to use food product information in consumption decisions than younger women. Furthermore, the respondents showed high perception of food risks; however, about half of them have optimistic bias towards the hazards of eating unwholesome packaged foods. The study therefore recommends that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) embark on aggressive awareness campaigns on the health hazards associated with eating unwholesome packaged food, targeting younger female workers in Nigerian State Universities. Public health experts, librarians and other information professionals should also embark on enlightenment programmes for the public and the academic community. This study complements an earlier study which examined the use of various types of food product information in consumption of packaged foods among the same population.

Keywords

food product information health information literacy packaged foods women Nigeria

Health information literacy has a positive effect on the habit of using food product information in consumption decisions.

Background

Women have various information needs which are conditioned by personal, social, economic and environmental factors. Women play pivotal roles in household food consumption, therefore, information on food and nutrition is among their most profound information needs (Hossain and Islam, 2012). Information adds value to decision-making and causes a change in the knowledge of the recipient by either increasing or reducing his uncertainty. Those who lack the skills and means to access, interpret and apply information have limited choices and are suffering from information poverty (Britz, 2004). Akhtar and Malesse (1994), however, argued that it is not only those who lack the means and access to information who are information poor but also anyone who fails to recognize the importance of information in decision-making.

Food product information is an attribute of packaged foods that gives details about the constituents, quantity and nutritional value of packaged food products (Gorton, 2007). Packaged foods are ready alternatives for women who work outside the home because they have been transformed from their raw states into semi-processed or even ready-to-eat form, and require less time and effort to prepare. There is a global increase in the demand for processed and packaged foods in both the developed and developing countries, including those of Sub-Saharan Africa (Popkin, 2006). However, indiscriminate consumption of unwholesome packaged foods can have dire consequences for consumers.

The World Health Organisation (2010) reported that up to 30 percent of the populations in industrialized countries suffer from food-borne diseases each year. Furthermore, most cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity and cancer have been associated with Western diet and lifestyle. Major food challenges are also posed by profit-minded food manufacturers and the thriving counterfeiting business, especially in developing countries. Consumers therefore need accurate and adequate food product information to make healthy food choices.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), is the government agency that regulates the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, sale and distribution of food, drug, cosmetics and water in Nigeria. One of the measures adopted by the agency is to enforce the provision of detailed information including the name of the product, the name and address of the manufacturer, or distributor; batch number, manufacturing and expiry date and NAFDAC registration number on all packaged food products whether imported or locally produced (Food Standards Agency, 2011). The use of food product information is an active process of searching out information on food packages, evaluating its meaning and making a consumption decision based on that evaluation (Nayga, 1996). The use of food product information is a food safety measure that consumers of packaged foods can use to protect themselves from unwholesome packaged foods.

Demographic variables such as age, gender, education, and the roles that people perform in society have also been observed to impact on their information behaviour (Wilson, 1981). Also influential are an individual’s perception of risks and level of health information literacy. (Wilson, 1981; Katapodi, Dodd, Lee and Facione, 2009). Perceived risk refers to those functional, physical, social, psychological or financial threats that a consumer associates with the purchase or use of a product or service and the estimation of his susceptibility to such risks (Katapodi et al. 2009). Wilson (1997) opined that a consumer’s estimation of risk associated with a product will determine how he seeks for information about that product.

Health information literacy is a subset of information literacy that describes a person’s ability to recognize a health information need, identify relevant sources of information, access, interpret, evaluate and use the information to make good health decisions (Medical Library Association, 2003). People who are health information literate are empowered to make choices that can lower health risks and increase quality of life (Zarcadoolas, Pleasant and Greer, 2005). Consequently, this study investigated the influence of demographic variables, perception of food risks and health information literacy on the use of food product information among female workers in Nigerian state universities. This study complements an earlier study by the same authors which examined the use of various types of food product information in consumption of packaged foods among the same population.

Research questions

This study aims to answer the following research questions:

To what extent do the respondents use the different types of product information on packaged foods?

What risks do the women associate with consumption of packaged foods?

What is the influence of demographic characteristics, perception of risks, and health information literacy on respondents’ use of food product information?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested in the study:

H0₁ Demographic characteristics (age, educational status, marital status, discipline and academic/non-academic status) have no significant influence on their use of food product information in consumption of packaged foods by female workers in Nigerian state universities.

H0₂. Perceived risks have no significant influence on the use of food product information by the respondents.

H0₃. Health information literacy has no significant influence on the use of food product information in consumption of packaged foods among female workers in Nigerian state universities.

Literature review

Information need is the lack of appropriate information on which to base decisions that can improve people’s well-being. Information need is the impetus for information seeking and use. Information use implies application of information either in problem-solving or decision-making which should lead to improvement of a person psychologically or physically (Choo, 2006; Al-Fedaghi, 2008). Information seeking and use is critical to decision-making, especially those decisions that border on personal health and well-being; however, a person might choose to ignore a problem rather than seek information to confront it (Alzougool, Chang and Gray, 2008).

People’s information behaviour varies widely due to demographic, economic, technological and political situations, the social roles they play and their perception or experience of risks (Wilson, 1981; Wilson, 1997; Gu, Mendonca and Wu, 2003). Wathen and Harris (2006) observed that women are particularly sensitive to health-related information because of their roles as mothers and gatekeepers of health in the family. Palsdotirr (2003) found that women engage more than men in both active and passive information seeking on health and lifestyle from the Internet and health specialists.

Different demographic factors can influence how women seek and use information. Palsdotirr (2003) observed that women with higher levels of education sought health information more than those with lower levels of education. Fullenkamp (2009) found that socio-economic status, education, race and social support determined women’s likelihood to seek for information on breast cancers from electronic sources. Zaid and Popoola (2010) studied the relationship between information use and the quality of life of rural women in Ekiti state. The findings showed that the sources of information used by the women varied in accordance with demographic variables such as age, occupation, socioeconomic status, literacy level and affordability.

Drichoutis, Lazaridis and Nayga (2006) stated that the use of nutrition labels was significantly higher among people who were younger than 35 years and who had more than a high school education. The findings of Onay, Ersoy-Quadir and Akman (2011) from their study of consumers’ attitudes to food safety information when buying foods corroborated this finding. The researchers reported that younger consumers from 34 years and below paid more attention to food safety measures such as information on expiry dates than their older counterparts.

Wiles, Paterson and Meaker (2009) examined the factors that influence the use of nutrition information on fat spread among 150 women shopping in Pietermaritzburg. They found out that primary food purchasers who live with other people, who have tertiary education, who have more money to spend on food and are health conscious are more likely to use nutrition information on fat spread. Omotosho (2008), however, reported that level of education was not significant, but income played a negative role in consumers’ awareness of information labels in Ekiti state, Nigeria. Onay et al. (2011) found a negative relationship between education and use of food product information. Their findings showed that the use of food product information was higher among consumers who had only primary and secondary education than among those who had first degrees and Masters degrees.

Perceived risk is another factor that determines how consumers respond to information about food risks. Hanley, Grande, Alvarez-Farizo, Salt and Wilson (2001) opined that women are more likely to perceive higher risks from food hazards than men. Although perception of food risk can be heightened by media coverage and reportage and also increase consumers’ information searches on food safety (Wahlberg and Sjoberg, 2000), people who have an optimistic bias may not pay attention to risk information or adopt the recommended preventive behaviour because they feel they are not susceptible to such risks (Miles and Scaife, 2003). Consumers’ willingness to seek and use information on food packages will depend on their estimation of the risks associated with indiscriminate consumption of packaged foods.

Health information seeking in any context, including food and nutrition, requires health information literacy. Appropriate source selection and search strategies, retrieval skills and relevance judgment are parts of health information literacy. Studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between health literacy and preventive health behaviour such as checking food expiration dates and monitoring physical changes in the body (Lee, Tsai, Tsai and Kuo, 2011). Scott, Gazmararian, Williams and Baker (2002) conducted a study to determine the relationship between low health literacy and uptake of preventive health services such as influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations among adults who are between 65 and 79 years old in four US cities. The findings indicated that self-reported lack of preventive services was higher among individuals with inadequate health literacy than those with adequate health literacy. Lee et al. (2011) examined the link between health literacy and five health behaviours among Taiwanese women. The findings showed a positive relationship between health literacy and checking food expiration dates and monitoring physical changes.

Methodology

The survey design was used for this study. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample at different stages. First, the technique was used to randomly select four out of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The four zones were the South-Eastern zone, the North-Central zone, the North-Eastern zone and the South-Western zone, and two states were randomly selected from each zone. The technique was also used to randomly select the faculties of Arts/Humanities, Science and Social Sciences for the academic staff and the registry and bursary departments for non-academic staff. Finally, 147 female academic staff and 701 female non-academic staff were randomly selected from a population of 2345, making a total of 848. Data was collected with a self-structured questionnaire. The response rate was 561 (77 percent). Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Binary logistic regression is used to predict a categorical, dichotomous variable from a set of predictor variables.

Results

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The results show that about three quarters (75 percent) of the women were 40 years or younger, an indication that majority of the respondents were still in their active years. Forty-six (8.2 percent) had secondary education, 100 (17.8 percent) NCE/OND, 248 (44.2 percent) first degree, 106 (18.9 percent) masters and 61 (10.9 percent) a PhD. The results also show that 145 (25.8 percent) of the respondents were in the Sciences, 306 (54.5 percent) in the Social Sciences and 110 (19.6 percent) in the Humanities, while 135 (24.1 percent) were academic staff and 426 (75.9 percent) were non-academic staff, which means that most of the respondents are non-academic staff.

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of respondents.

Demographic Characteristics	Dimension	Frequency	Percentage
Age	Less than 30	192	34.2
	31–40	228	40.6
	41–50	108	19.3
	Above 50	33	5.9
Educational Qualification	Secondary	46	8.2
	NCE/OND	100	17.8
	B.A/BSc	248	44.2
	Masters	106	18.9
	PhD	61	10.9
Discipline	Humanities	110	19.6
	Sciences	145	25.8
	Social Science	306	54.5
Designation	Academic	135	24.1
Designation	Non-Academic	426	75.9

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

Asked to rate how often they based consumption of packaged foods on specific food product information, 498 (88.8 percent) of the respondents were admitted that for them, consumption of packaged foods often depends on NAFDAC registration number, 489 (87.2 percent) based consumption of packaged foods on nutrition information, 425 (75.8 percent) based it on health claims, 417 (74.3) based it on expiry date and additives, 360 (60.6 percent) on lists of ingredients and 278 (49.6 percent) on batch number. It can be observed that apart from batch number, all the food product information had >60 percent of respondents who claimed to use food product information often in consumption decisions, with NAFDAC registration number having the highest frequency (>80 percent).

The possibility that ‘Some packaged foods might have expired’ is the greatest risk that respondents associate with consumption of packaged foods (469, 83.6 percent). This was closely followed by harmful additives (464, 82.7 percent). The others are unsafe processing technology (432, 77 percent), obesity (424, 75.6 percent), substandard or damaged packaging (421, 75 percent), counterfeited products (397, 70.8 percent) and high salt or cholesterol content (385, 68.6 percent), cancer and hypertension (368, 65.6 percent) and unwholesome manufacturing conditions (357, 63.6 percent). All the statements except ‘I see no risks in eating packaged foods’ had high frequencies (>60 percent), indicating that perceived risk of eating unwholesome packaged food is very high among the respondents.

Table 2.

Frequency of using specific food product information in consumption decisions.

S/N	Food Product Information	Often	Not Often	Not Sure	Mean
1	NAFDAC registration no.	498 (88.8%)	47 (8.4%)	16 (2.8%)	1.8793
2	Nutrition information	489 (87.2%)	58 (10.3%)	14 (2.5%)	1.8467
3	Health claim	425 (75.8%)	93 (16.6%)	43 (7.7%)	1.6809
4	Additives	417 (74.3%)	88 (15.7%)	56 (10%)	1.6435
5	Expiry date	417 (74.3%)	104 (18.5%)	40 (7.1%)	1.6720
6	List of ingredients	340 (60.6%)	144 (25.7%)	77 (13.7%)	1.4688
7	Batch number	278 (49.6%)	209 (37.3%)	74 (13.2%)	1.3636

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

Table 3.

Perceived risks in consumption of packaged foods.

S/N	Statements	Agree	Disagree	Not Sure	Mean
1	Some packaged foods might have expired	469 (83.6%)	53 (9.4%)	39 (7%)	1.7665
2	Additives (colouring, thickeners, sweeteners etc.) used for packaged foods could be harmful to my health	464 (82.7%)	43 (7.7%)	54 (9.6%)	1.7308
3	Food processing technology such as biotechnology, irradiation used for some packaged foods might not be very safe	432 (77%)	72 (12.8%)	57 (10.2%)	1.6684
4	Eating packaged foods with high calorie can cause obesity	424 (75.6%)	75 (13.3%)	62 (11.1%)	1.6453
5	Substandard or damaged packaging increases the risks involved in eating packaged foods.	421 (75%)	66 (11.8%)	74 (13.2%)	1.6185
6	Packaged foods can be easily counterfeited	397 (70.8%)	92 (16.4%)	71 (12.7%)	1.5821
7	Packaged foods could be very high in sugar, salt or cholesterol	385 (68.6%)	98 (17.5%)	78 (13.9%)	1.5472
8	Consumption of packaged foods have been associated with cancer and hypertension	368 (65.6%)	90 (16%)	103 (18.4)	1.4724
9	Some packaged foods are manufactured under unwholesome conditions	357 (63.6%)	107 (19.1%)	97 (17.3%)	1.4635
10	I see no risk in eating packaged foods	130 (23.2%)	340 (60.6%)	91 (16.2%)	1.0695

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

The results in Table 4 show that 273 (48.7 percent) of respondents had bought packaged foods which they later found to be unwholesome and 281 (50.1 percent) had actually eaten unwholesome packaged foods before.

Table 4.

Respondents’ experience with unwholesome packaged foods.

S/N	Bought or Eaten unwholesome Packaged Foods	Yes	No
1	Have you ever eaten a packaged food that you consider to be unsafe/ unwholesome?	281 (50.1%)	280 (49.9%)
2	Have you ever bought a packaged food that you later found to be unsafe/ unwholesome?	273 (48.7%)	288 (51.3%)

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

Respondents were asked to specify the condition(s) under which they might eat packaged foods which they knew might be unwholesome either because they were adulterated, expired or contained certain allergens. The results (Table 5) show that 280 (49.9 percent) can eat unwholesome packaged foods if they are very hungry, 249 (44.4 percent) will eat them ‘If the food product has just expired recently’ and 238 (42.4 percent) would eat them ‘If there are no alternatives’. About 50 percent of the respondents agreed to all of the statements indicating that they might eat packaged foods which they know are unwholesome if they find themselves in desperate situations. This result suggests that the women underestimated the risks involved in eating unwholesome packaged foods.

Table 5.

Reasons why respondents might eat unwholesome packaged foods.

S/N	Conditions	Agree	Disagree	Not Sure	Mean	Std. D
1	If I am very hungry	280 (49.9%)	230 (41%)	51 (9.0%)	1.4107	0.64912
2	If the food product has just expired recently	249 (44.4%)	293 (52.2%)	19 (3.4%)	1.4100	0.55694
3	If there are no alternatives	238 (42.4%)	248 (44.2%)	75 (13.4%)	1.2906	0.68874
4	If the taste of the product is not yet affected	206 (36.7%)	260 (46.3%)	95 (16.9%)	1.1979	0.70589
5	If the product is very expensive	187 (33.3%)	293 (52.2%)	81 (14.4%)	1.1889	0.66544
6	If it is an imported product	178 (31.7%)	326 (58.1%)	57 (10.2%)	1.2143	0.61041

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

As can be observed from Table 6, most of the respondents rated themselves high (>50 percent) on virtually all the indicators of health information literacy; 417 (74.3 percent) believed they can obtain health information from different sources to meet their needs, 378 (67.4 percent) agreed that they understand health information without much difficulty, 370 (66 percent) thought they can practically apply health information in decision-making, 358 (63.8 percent) believed they can define their health information needs and 301 (53.7 percent) said they can judge the relevance of health information they obtain from any source.

Table 6.

Distribution of respondents by level of health information literacy.

S/N	Health Information Literacy	High	Low	Not Sure	Mean	Std. D
1	I know how to obtain health information from different sources in order to meet my health needs	417 (74.3%)	96 (17.1%)	48 (8.6%)	1.6578	0.63004
2	I understand health information without much difficulty	378 (67.4%)	134 (23.9%)	49 (8.7%)	1.5865	0.64650
3	I am able to practically apply health information in decision-making	370 (66%)	137 (24.4%)	54 (9.6%)	1.5633	0.66279
4	I know how to define my specific health information needs	358 (63.8%)	118 (21%)	85 (15.2%)	1.4866	0.74420
5	I can judge the quality of health information I obtain from any source	301 (53.7%)	151 (26.9%)	109 (19.4%)	1.3422	0.78409

Source: Field Survey, 2011.

Hypothesis testing

Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine the influence of perceived risks, health information literacy and demographic characteristics such as age, marital status, educational level, discipline and designation (academic or non-academic) on the use of food product information by female workers in Nigerian State Universities. The results are presented in Table 7.

Table 7.

Influence of demographic characteristics, perception of risk and health information literacy on female workers’ use of food product information.

Predictors	Parameters	ß	S.E	Wald
Constant	ß₀	0.170	0.658	0.066
Age (31–40)	ß₁	−0.656	0.631	1.220
Age (41–50)		−0.530	0.607	0.764
Age (>50)		0.495**	0.594	6.132
Marital Status	ß₂	0.300	0.243	1.527
Education (NCE/OND)	ß₃	0.013	0.715	0.000
Education (1st degree)		0.619	0.658	0.885
Education (Masters)		0.459	0.644	0.507
Education (PhD)		0.515	0.651	0.626
Discipline (Science)	ß₄	0.022	0.263	0.007
Discipline (Soc Sc.)		0.083	0.243	0.116
Designation	ß₅	0.223	0.234	0.914
Perceived Risks	ß₆	1.079***	0.204	27.998
Health Information Literacy	ß₇	0.513**	0.212	7.403
Pseudo R²
Log Likelihood (-2LL)		0.48***
X²		−670.230
		6.611***

Significant @ *10%; **5%; ***1%. Source: Field Survey, 2012.

They show that of all the demographic variables in the model, only the coefficient of age (where ß₁ >50) was significant with a positive sign. This means that age significantly and positively influences the use of food product information among female staff of Nigerian universities who are above 50 years (p < 0.05). The implication is that older women are more likely than younger women to use food product information in deciding whether or not to consume packaged foods.

The coefficient of perceived risk (ß₆) was also significant with a positive sign (p<0.01). This implies that respondents’ perception of the risks associated with consumption of packaged foods significantly influenced their use of food product information. In addition, the results show that the coefficient of health information literacy (ß₇) was significant with a positive sign (p<0.05), which means that the respondents’ health information literacy significantly and positively influenced their use of food product information.

Discussion of findings

This study shows that female workers in Nigerian state universities pay attention to food product information on packaged foods before eating them. The majority (>80 percent), however, look for the NAFDAC registration number and nutrition information on packaged foods. This finding corroborates those of Omotosho (2008) and Babatunde and Biala (2006) that NAFDAC represents a quality seal for packaged foods and that most Nigerians will not take packaged products without NAFDAC numbers. With respect to the perceived risks of eating packaged foods, the finding indicate that the perception of food risk related with eating unwholesome packaged food was high among the respondents, as more than 60 percent responded positively to virtually all the statements that highlight the health hazards related to consumption of packaged foods. This finding is in consonance with the opinion of Hanley, Grande, Alvarez-Farizo, Salt and Wilson (2001) that women have high perception of food risks.

Another interesting finding of this study relates to the health literacy of the respondents. Most of the women rated themselves high on all five statements used to measure health information literacy. They were, however, more confident about their ability to search for health information than they were about their ability to judge the relevance of such information. This finding agrees with Ivanitskaya, O’Boyle and Casey (2006), who found that although a majority of the students they studied rated their health information retrieval skills as excellent, many of them were not able to judge the trustworthiness of health-related websites or differentiate between information sources.

The findings also show that the age of the respondents (p<0.05) positively and significantly influenced the use of food product information, especially among respondents who were above 50 years. This is probably because they consider themselves vulnerable to certain age-related diseases or are already managing such diseases and are therefore more conscious of their food intake. This finding is in line with the reports of Satia, Galanko and Neuhouser (2005) and Drichoutis et al. (2006) and Goodman et al. (2011) that older people use food product information more than younger consumers. However, it contradicts the findings of Onay et al. (2011) who reported that younger consumers paid more attention to food product information than older consumers.

Contrary to the findings of previous researches (Nayga, 2000; Garrett, 2007), the findings of this study showed that the use of food product information was not influenced by the level of education of female workers in Nigerian state universities, as could be observed on Table 7. Also, while it was expected that the academic or non-academic status of the respondents would influence their use of food product information, the results in Table 7 also shows that this variable is not significant. Similarly, marital status and discipline also had no significant effect on the use of food product information among the respondents. This implies that the use of food product information by female workers in Nigerian state universities was not determined by their educational level, discipline, marital status or their academic or non-academic status.

The findings further show that perceived risks (p<0.01)) had a significant and positive influence on the use of food product information among the study population. This finding agrees with those of Huurne (2008). However, the finding implies that there is a gap between the respondents’ perception of the risks involved in eating expired packaged foods and their risk behaviour, because about half of the respondents said that they could eat unwholesome packaged foods if they found themselves in desperate situations (Table 5). It could be inferred from this finding that female workers in Nigerian state universities actually perceived high risk in the consumption of packaged food and therefore read food product information – in most cases, the NAFDAC registration number and those that pertain to the nutritional status of the product. They are, however high risk takers with respect to the consumption of packaged foods. This attitude is traceable to optimistic bias (Miles and Scaife, 2003) and suggests an urgent need for proper orientation on the health implications of eating unwholesome packaged food.

Finally, in line with the finding of Lee et al. (2011) that there is a positive relationship between people’s health information literacy and their ability to take preventive health measures, the findings of this study show that health information literacy (p<0.05) has a significant and positive effect on the preventive habit of using food product information in consumption decisions.

Conclusion and recommendations

This study analyzed the factors that determine the use of food product information in consumption of packaged foods among female workers in Nigerian state universities. The study ascertained the risks they associate with consumption of packaged foods and established the influence of respondents’ demographic characteristics, their perception of food risks and health information literacy on their use of food product information. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that younger women female workers in Nigerian state universities are not giving adequate attention to food product information, which could have severe implications for the women, their families, and the academic community they serve. Moreover, about half of the female workers in Nigerian state universities have an optimistic bias about their susceptibility to food hazards. Therefore, the study recommends that:

NAFDAC should intensify awareness programmes on the use of food product information using different media. Such programmes should be extended to all the university campuses in Nigeria and should target women, particularly those who are below 50 years.

Information professionals should collaborate with public health experts to further enlighten people on the importance of using food product information by organizing conferences and seminars on these themes, placing emphasis on the health hazards associated with indiscriminate consumption of packaged foods.

Antenatal programs should stress the need for pregnant women to pay careful attention to food product information while selecting packaged foods, as unwholesome foods can have dire implications not only for their own health, but also for their unborn babies.

Nutrition education should be incorporated into the secondary school curriculum and emphasis should be placed on the importance of using food product information. This will contribute towards raising younger generations that are health information literate.

Finally, academic libraries should provide materials such as magazines, journals, books, posters and other resources that can stimulate library users to be information-conscious consumers.

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