Mirroring the growing health consciousness among the people, a survey has found that more than half of the Indian consumers look for nutritional information on food packaging with a majority of them mainly looking for the fat content details.

The online survey conducted by global information and media firm Nielsen Company showed that 59 per cent of Indians check details of nutrition on food packaging, topping the Asia Pacific region in terms of understanding of nutritional labels.

Further, the number of such people in India has increased from 49 per cent in the last two years. Noting that fat content drives more than half of Indian consumers to check the labels on food packaging, the report said about 60 per cent look for the same in food packaging.

Around 58 per cent of people check the labels for calories, followed by preservatives (52 per cent), protein content (48 per cent), carbohydrates and additives (46 per cent), colouring (45 per cent) and sugar (44 per cent).

According to the findings, 37 per cent of Indian buyers always check the nutritional information when buying packaged goods, while 35 per cent agreed to checking labels when they are thinking of buying a product for the first time.

However, only 10 per cent respondents said they check labels when they are on a diet or are trying to lose weight and also when they have the time.

The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey was conducted by Nielsen Customised Research in April, among 28,253 internet users in 51 markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East. "... packaged products are making entry in a big way in the Indian kitchen. However, people are not ready to risk their well being and are favouring available nutritional packaged food, this surely indicates an opportunity for savvy food manufacturers to use nutritional labelling as a powerful marketing tool," said Chandana Banerji who is the Director, Client Solutions at the Nielsen Company.

Also percentage of Indians checking labels when buying certain food types has come down to 28 per cent, compared to 31 per cent in 2005 survey. "Most Indians check labels only when they are unsure of the contents in the item, which mostly happens when they buy it for the first time or in case of buying for their children. Nutritional information on packaging also serves to educate shoppers on what they are buying and eating," Banerji said. The survey pointed out that less than a third of the consumers in Asia Pacific say "they mostly understand the nutritional information on food packaging.

India, Australia and New Zealand are home to the most conversant consumers in the region, with over half claiming to mostly understand food labels, it added. Interestingly, artificial additions like preservatives and colouring have taken precedence for consumers compared to sugar.