Lulu’ul Badriyah^a, Abdullah Syafei^b

^aDepartement of Nutrition, Indonesia Maju College of Health Science, Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta

^bDepartement of Public Health, Indonesia Maju College of Health Science, Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta

Correspondence: lulubadriyah91@gmail.com

Abstract

Food label information is important because it can show food quality and food safety for consumption. Food labeling also becomes decision of consumers to buy food. Reading food labels is one of the messages from the Balanced Nutrition Guidelines. However, food labels on packaged foods are usually not used by consumers. This study aims to determine the habit of reading food labels and food buying decisions in adolescents. This study used a cross sectional study conducted on 150 respondents at SMK Wijaya Kusuma, South Jakarta in 2019. The results showed that respondents who always read the product name were only 61.3%, ingredient only 12.0%, net weight only 13.3%, expired date 63.3%, serving sizes only 13.3%, serving amount 13.3%. Meanwhile, respondents who always read calories were only 12.7%, cholesterol 8.0%, fat 11.3%, vitamins 22.7%, sodium 10.7%, sugar 17.3%, fiber 8.0%, and iron 17.3%. While respondents who always use information on food labels as a decision to buy food as much as 61.3%. Further research is needed to identify factors influencing adolescents to read food labels and nutritional information.

Keywords: food labels, nutritional information, adolescents