Nutritional Content of Food `Very Important' When Shopping According to Two-Thirds (66%) of Canadians

Montreal, QUEBEC (Tuesday, April 28th, 2003) - According to a new study conducted by Ipsos-Insight on behalf of Danone, two-thirds (66%) of Canadians say that when they are shopping for groceries they feel that the nutritional content of products is `very important' in their purchase decision. In total, over nine in ten (94%) Canadians feel that nutritional content is `important' (`very' 66%, `somewhat' 28%) in their purchase decision.

While almost all Canadians feel that nutritional content plays an important part in their grocery purchase decisions, just six in ten (59%) say they read the nutritional information on packages `most of the time' (37%) or `always' (22%). On the opposite end, one in five (18%) say they `rarely' (11%) or `never' (7%) read the nutritional information when they are choosing which foods to purchase.

However, just one in five (20%) Canadians say they are `very satisfied' with the quantity and quality of the nutritional information on the packaging of food products, while a further 62% are `somewhat satisfied'. This compares to 16% who are not satisfied with nutritional information on food.

Canadians were asked about their views on yogurt - with nine in ten (91%) believing it is a `healthy food'. For Canadians, the most important characteristics of yogurt products when making when making a purchasing decision are that it is made "with real fruit" (67%), is a "source of calcium" (55%), is a "source of several vitamins and minerals" (50%), has "no fat" (49%), and has "no sugar" (48%), while being a "source of active culture" (32%) is the lowest ranked as an important characteristic when making a purchasing decision about a yogurt.

When tested on a variety of yogurt ingredients on a `true/false' basis, most people (93%) can accurately identify calcium as an ingredient that is found in yogurt, followed by magnesium (58%), riboflavin or vitamin B2 (48%), vitamin B12 (45%) and phosphorous (39%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Insight poll conducted between April 1st and April 3rd, 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1773.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Two-thirds (66%) of Canadians say that when they are shopping for groceries they feel that the nutritional content of products is `very important' in their purchase decision. In total, over nine in ten (94%) Canadians feel that nutritional content is `important' (`very' 66%, `somewhat' 28%) in their purchase decision. Six percent say that such information is not very (3%) or not at all (3%) important to them when shopping for groceries.

• Regionally, residents of British Columbia (71%) and Ontario (68%) are more likely than are residents of Alberta (54%) to say that the nutritional content of a product is very important in their grocery purchase decisions.
• Women (73%) are more likely than men (58%) to indicate that nutritional content is very important to them when shopping for groceries.
• This position is also more likely to be held by older (76%) Canadians than by middle aged (66%) or younger (54%) Canadians.

While almost all Canadians feel that nutritional content plays an important part in their grocery purchase decisions, just six in ten (59%) say they read the nutritional information on packages `most of the time' (37%) or `always' (22%). On the opposite end, one in five (18%) say they `rarely' (11%) or `never' (7%) read the nutritional information when they are choosing which foods to purchase.

• Women (66%) are more likely to say they read the nutritional information `most of the time' or `always', than are men (52%).
• Middle aged (65%) and older (62%) Canadians are more likely than are younger (48%) Canadians to say they `always'/'most of the time' read the nutritional information on food packages.
• Looking further into age and gender, both younger men (32%) and younger women (22%) are more likely than older men or women to say they `rarely' or `never' read the nutritional information on food packages.
• Canadians with a university degree (67%) are more likely than those with just a high school diploma (58%), some university or other post-secondary education (57%) or without a high school diploma (48%) to `always'/'most of the time' read the nutritional information when purchasing food.
• Canadians in upper income households (65%) are more likely than their counterparts in lower income households (54%) to say they `always'/'most of the time' read the nutritional information when purchasing food.

However, just one in five (20%) Canadians say they are `very satisfied' with the quantity and quality of the nutritional information on the packaging of food products, while a further 62% are `somewhat satisfied'. This compares to 16% who are not satisfied with nutritional information on food.

• Younger (86%) Canadians are more likely than middle aged (79%) Canadians to express satisfaction with the quality and quantity of nutritional information on food packaging.
• There is no statistical difference between the views of those households with children or without children.

Nine in ten (91%) Canadians believe that yogurt is a `healthy food', while seven percent say they do not consider yogurt to be a `healthy food'.

• Residents of Quebec (95%) and British Columbia (94%) are more likely than those in Atlantic Canada (86%) or Saskatchewan/Manitoba (84%) to say they consider yogurt to be a `healthy food'.
• Women (93%) are more likely than are men (89%) to say that yogurt is a `healthy food'.
• While, younger men (93%) are more likely than older men (84%) to say yogurt is healthy, younger (87%) women are less likely than are middle aged (96%) and older (95%) women to share this view.
• Canadians with a university degree (94%) are more likely than are those with some university or other post-secondary education (89%) or those without a high school diploma (87%) to say they consider yogurt to be a `healthy food'.

The most important characteristics of yogurt products for Canadians when making a purchasing decision regarding a yogurt are that is made "with real fruit" (67%), is a "source of calcium" (55%), is a "source of several vitamins and minerals" (50%), contains "no fat" (49%), and has "no sugar" (48%), while being a "source of active culture" (32%) is the lowest ranked as important characteristic when purchasing a yogurt.

• Women are more likely than men to say each characteristic tested is important to them.
• Older Canadians are the most likely to say that "source of calcium" (63%), "no sugar" (60%), "no fat" (60%) are important characteristics of yogurt when making a purchase decision. Older (37%) and middle aged (33%) Canadians are more likely than younger (24%) Canadians to say that "source of active culture" is an important characteristic when they are deciding to purchase yogurt.
• "Source of several vitamins and minerals" is important as a yogurt characteristic more among lower (56%) and middle (54%) income households than among upper income households (45%).
• Households with children under 18 are more likely than those without children to say that "with real fruit" (77% versus 63%) and "source of calcium" (61% versus 52%) are important characteristics of yogurt when they are making a purchase decision. Meanwhile, households without children are more likely than those with children to say that "no fat" (52%) is an important characteristic.

When tested on a variety of yogurt ingredients on a `true/false' basis, most people (93%) can accurately identify calcium as an ingredient that is found in yogurt, followed by magnesium (58%), riboflavin or vitamin B2 (48%), vitamin B12 (45%) and phosphorous (39%).

• Men are more likely than women to identify riboflavin (54% versus 42% of women), vitamin B12 (51% versus 40%), as ingredients that may be found in yogurt, while women are more likely than men to identify calcium (96% versus 90% of men) as an ingredient found in yogurt.
• Younger Canadians are the most likely to be able to identify calcium (96% versus 86% of older Canadians), magnesium (64% versus 51% of older Canadians), vitamin B12 (59% versus 48% of middle aged and 31% of older Canadians), riboflavin (54% versus 42% of older Canadians) as ingredients that may be found in yogurt.
• Canadians from upper income households are more likely than their counterparts in lower income households to identify as possible ingredients of yogurt, calcium (96% versus 90%) and magnesium (66% versus 58% of lower and 55% of middle income households).
• Canadians with children in the house (95%) are more likely than those with out children in the house (91%) to say that calcium is an ingredient that may be in yogurt.

To view the factum and detailed tables, please open the attached PDF files.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900