Evaluation of Food Labeling Policy in Korea: Analyzing the Community Health Survey 2014–2017

BACKGROUND: As Koreans adopt more Westernized diets, consumer demands for processed food products are growing. The Korean government implemented a food labeling system to help people reasonably choose processed foods. This study investigated the utilization of these food labels among Koreans, as well as demographic differences between users and non-users of food labels, ultimately presenting foundational data for strategies to enhance dietary lifestyles by facilitating the use of food labeling. METHODS: Data from the 2014–2017 Community Health Survey were used. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was performed to investigate whether food labeling awareness and utilization increase over time; a data mining technique called decision tree analysis was then used to examine the effects of sociodemographic factors on the use of food labeling for each of the 4 years. RESULTS: Food labeling awareness increased by 4.5% over 4 years; the Cochran–Armitage trend test showed that this increase was statistically significant (χ(2) = 1,068.21; P < 0.001). Food labeling utilization increased significantly but marginally, by 0.3%, over 4 years (χ(2) = 20.154; P < 0.001). Decision tree analysis showed that food labeling users comprised mainly women in their 30s–50s currently in graduate school or with a graduate degree; the non-user group comprised mainly divorced/widowed/separated people in their 70s who were elementary school grads or below. CONCLUSION: Education level, which could be related to health literacy, substantially affected the use of food labeling. Education level is a typical socioeconomic index, and if people who are less educated tend not to use food labeling, it can lead to health inequity. Thus, food labeling should be reformed with consideration of health literacy among the less-educated social classes. From a health communication perspective, images and pictures can boost consumers' understanding, which should be considered to improve comprehensibility of food labeling.