Understanding the role of media and food labels to disseminate food related information in Lebanon

1 Introduction

The customers of the 21st century are becoming more educated, which allow them to analyse and discern information, thus becoming better aware of making the right decisions, also throughout the use and assistance of modern media. As a matter of fact, and based on food communication research outcomes, consumers expose themselves more and more to information related to food, affecting their buying and eating habits [1]. Hence, more studies have found that people are more engaged and active in digging and diving for quality information about food that are mostly referred to on the internet [2,3].

As per Scheufele and Tewksbury [4], many communication studies revealed the fact that influence on citizens’ perceptions is a result of different forms of media and the effect they exert. News and content circulating in the media and the online information sources can therefore influence readers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour toward food [5,6]. The problem with online information is that sometimes people are exposed to fake news [7,8], consequently affecting and distorting their perception of risks and inappropriate awareness of things [9,10,11].

Consumers’ food choices are often shaken by the quality of nutritional information in relation to food that can help leading to reducing uncertainty of the food health attribute. Food economic models of consumer’s demand and implementation of effective communication approaches for changing dietary behaviours could be developed through a better understanding of the nutritional health information and its impact on consumer’s food choices [12]. Furthermore, food labelling, consumer awareness, and comprehension of label information are crucial for determining, maintaining, and communicating their food value [13]. These labels are important for the consumer’s analysis and judgmental system. They can assist the individuals in the appraisal of a product and also contribute in aiding the producer in enhancing and adapting its manufacturing system to meet consumers’ expectations and needs, and also leaning to satisfying and promoting socioeconomic objectives [14]. Despite this fact, in part of the environment, awareness of food labels is yet debatable along with their impact of influence on consumers’ attitudes, preferences, and quality perceptions [14]. Some researchers like Grunert and Aachmann [15] suggested the strengthening of the research base systems on labels and their influence on consumer behaviour for a more valid and compliant evidence-based policy in this area. Findings from prior research on the role of labels, indeed, are particularly controversial, with some authors considering it as a critical antecedent of consumers’ behaviour [13,16,17] and others finding it as a factor of minor influence [18,19].

A number of studies have demonstrated that dietary fibre is part of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and cereals, which contributes to the prevention of several chronic diseases, including non-communicable diseases [20,21,22,23]. As a result, a general rule advises to consume a standar amount of dietary fibre, which varies according to sex as follows: 25 to 32 g/1000 kcal for women and 30 to 35 g/1000 kcal for men [24]. Still, the fibre consumption tends to be lower than recommended, due to poor diets and westernisation of food habits [25]. Therefore, it is advisable to understand how the consumers can increase the consumption of fibre-rich foods, and in what way they can be better informed about its benefits for human health. Studies have focused on the sources of information about dietary fibre in some countries, like Romania [26], Latvia [27], Croatia [28], Portugal [29], and Turkey [30]. However, in the scientific literature, there are no such studies for the Lebanon population.

2 Research motivation and questions

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in coordination with different ministries in Lebanon (Ministry of Public health and Ministry of Agriculture) have developed lately different policies and manuals to raise awareness and spread information about food safety, components, and ingredients, but there is a lack of studies related to Lebanese attitude towards food information and means of dissemination. The Lebanese Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2016–2019 focuses on the objectives listed in the Ministry of Agriculture’s (MoA) Strategy 2015–2019 and the LCRP/Food Security Strategic Response Plan 2016 established with FAO, and one of the primary government priorities was to “improve agricultural sector performance that contributes to economic, social, environmental, and sustainable rural development.” In this, several cross-cutting concerns, including gender as well as information and knowledge exchange, were mainstreamed [31].

Moreover, in the absence of accurate food security and nutrition information in Lebanon, the Food-Based Dietary Guideline Manual for Promoting Healthy Eating in the Lebanese Adult Population was launched in 2013 and adopted by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health for distribution to policymakers, health-care providers, nutritionists, and dietitians in Lebanon. The guidelines seek to improve overall health, eating habits, and reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable illnesses among Lebanese people. They are intended for usage and disseminated in a variety of contexts, hospitals, private clinics, households, institutions, and health-related enterprises [32].

The purpose of the present study is to cover the above research gaps, by assessing first the role of media used to disseminate information related to food in Lebanon and second to see how the food labels can influence consumers’ acceptance and purchase intention. Specifically, the aims are to investigate the level of information communicated to the Lebanese population about dietary fibre as part of food labels and which means are used for the dissemination of the information related to dietary fibre. Our ultimate goal relates to purchasing intention of fibre-rich foods as driven by the information provided in the labels. Finally it was important for the authors to test if there were any sociodemographic differences (living environment, gender, education level, and age groups) in terms of information and food labelling awareness among Lebanese citizens especially considering that a previous study covered Lebanese food motivation and the authors found a gender difference in their perception about a healthy diet [33]. Hence, this research aims to elaborate and describe the possibilities of using new media as an opportunity to raise awareness on food fibres in a developing country and also evaluate consumer’s attitude towards food labelling.

In this study, the authors tried to answer two major research questions related to the importance of information related with food, namely about where to find this information and the level of awareness the customers have while purchasing their items. Additionally, it seemed interesting for the researchers to study the variables of food information dissemination and food label awareness of the Lebanese population in relation to the variable age and also check if there are any distinct and interesting differences based on the region environment (rural or urban).

RQ1: Where do Lebanese people find information and are these means of communication the most appropriate? Are there any sociodemographic differences such as gender, age, living environment, and education level?

RQ2: What is the level of awareness of Lebanese people about food labelling? Are there any sociodemographic differences such as gender, age, living environment, and education level?

3 Research methodology and data analysis

A cross-sectional study survey was undertaken on a sample of 273 participants from which 258 responses were considered valid. The questionnaire was distributed and administered randomly through social media from January 2021 till end of March 2021. The sample was a convenience sample of only adult participants, and therefore, people under the age of 18 were excluded. Inclusion criteria were being adult citizen, residing in Lebanon, contactable through social media, and with means to answer the online questionnaire. The research is integrated with an international project lead by CI&DETS research Centre of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu in Portugal. The questionnaire was a result of the international project “Food Fibres” and related to previous publications [34,35], being then extended to Lebanon. The data collecting instrument included some groups of questions which were used in this particular study as follows:

• Demographics (4 items) (age; education; gender; and living environment)

• Means of dissemination of information (2 items), where the answers for each item were ordered from most important (score 1) to the least important (score 6) enabling respondents to choose which answer fits the most (radio, television, school, magazines, internet, and hospitals)

• Food labelling (5 items), testing consumer’s attitude towards food labelling (a 5-point Likert scale from 1 Never to 5 Always)

The questionnaire was the same as already applied in other countries (Argentina, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, and Turkey), and therefore no modifications were made for its application to the Lebanese population [36]. The sources of information listed in the questionnaire were: Health centres/hospitals, radio, television, school, magazines/books or the internet, and these were kept as in the original survey. Regarding each of the alternative answers, people would choose the option based on their own judgment, i.e. there were no explanations in the questionnaire as to what each of the media meant. In this way, by choosing, for example, the option hospitals/health centres, the participants could choose this option if they got the information from the personnel, like doctors or nurses, or even from pamphlets or notice boards.

Data processing was carried out using IBM Statistics (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS v24). For the data analysis, basic descriptive statistics were used, complemented with statistical tests (T-test, ANOVA) [37]. The T-test was applied to test possible mean differences between two groups in variables with only two groups (sex, education, and living environment), while ANOVA was used to test possible differences in the mean values for variable age, which has more than two groups (eight groups, to be more precise). Statistical tests were undertaken: first to determine the normality of the distribution, the authors measured Skewness (SK) and Curtosis (K) [37]; as for the central tendency, the researchers focused on mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation [37]. In addition to that, a quantitative descriptive and analytical study was undertaken, with a non-probabilistic sample of respondents mostly women and living in an urban environment [38]. The reliability of the scale constituted with the questions about food labelling was evaluated through the computation of the Cronbach’s alpha (α), which measures the internal consistency of the scale for the different questions [39,40]. The values of Cronbach α vary from 0 to 1. Higher scores correspond to a more reliable and homogenous scale, in which the individual questions (items) reliably measure the domain core concept (variable) [41]. Values of α below 0.6 are considered indicators of unacceptable internal reliability, from 0.6 to 0.7 are considered as weak internal reliability, values within the range of 0.7 to 0.8 correspond to a reasonable internal reliability, from 0.8 to 0.9 to a good internal reliability, and values above 0.9 are considered indicators of an excellent internal reliability [42].

The level of significance considered was 5% (α = 0.05) in all statistical analyses.

In the tests performed, the following research hypotheses were considered:

• a) For research question 1 mentioned above:

• a.1) For the variable, availability of information:

• One hypothesis related to gender differences is:

  H0: There are No differences in terms of gender related to availability of information

  And the corresponding alternative hypothesis:

  H1: There are gender differences…

• Another hypothesis related to environmental differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by living environment);

• The third related to education level (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by education level);

• The last related to age differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by age group);

• a.2) For the variable, most adequate means of dissemination of information:

• One hypothesis related to gender differences is:

  H0: There are No differences in terms of gender related to the most adequate means of dissemination

  H1: There are gender differences ….

• Another hypothesis related to environmental differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by living environment);

• The third related to education level (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by education level);

• The last related to age differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by age group);

• b) For research question 2 mentioned above:

• For gender differences:

  H0: There are No differences in terms of gender for variable food labelling

  H1: There are gender differences ….

• For environmental differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by living environment);

• For educational level (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by education level);

• For age differences (similar to H0 and H1 above but replacing gender by age group).

For each set of hypotheses, the null hypothesis H0 and its corresponding alternative hypothesis H1 is linked to one specific test, and if the significance of the test (p-value) is lower than the established significance of 0.05, then there are statistical differences, which means that H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted. On the other hand, if the p-value is higher than 0.05, H0 is accepted and there are no significant differences between groups.

4 Results

5 Discussion

Our research question RQ1 involved the following aspects: Where do Lebanese people find information and are these means of communication the most appropriate? Are there any sociodemographic differences such as gender, age, living environment, and education level? To this we investigated how the participants rated a number of media as their sources of information related with dietary fibre, and then evaluated possible sociodemographic variability regarding the availability of the information on each of the media considered. Also, we have investigated which media the participants considered as most adequate to disseminate the information about healthy eating. These aspects, although related might be different, i.e. one participant can get information mostly from the radio but could consider school as the most appropriate media to do it. The results should enlighten as to how better to disseminate the information to obtain better adherence to this type of food with health benefits. Uduakah [43] addressed the issue of development communication that could be used to induce change by influencing the public and take them to a full mind set transformation. For him, development communication can help citizens accepting new ideas that shall be opted on doing and trying new things out. Therefore, this kind of communication is sometimes considered corrective, integrative, and revolutionary in nature and it is result oriented whereas the assistance of media is a core for the implementation of this development communication system. Without media none of this could happen because it is the major link and intermediary means between users, customers, service providers, etc. Information that are disseminated through media is a necessary condition for improvement of all areas. In certain cases, extension agents or even friends, neighbours, and relatives might be the primary source of knowledge in agricultural sectors. Extension Agents, according to Nsoanya and Nenna [44], are the primary providers of information for farmers. Friends and family were important sources of information for farmers in Rivers State, Nigeria, according to Nlerum et al. [45], whereas the source of information from the mainstream media (i.e. television, newspapers, radio, etc.) might occasionally account for only a tiny fraction of the total [46].

One of those major media tools and channels that is pointed as the most mandatory in rural population of developing countries is television, as it has the potential to diffuse development information and supplement the extension effort [47]. Also, researchers like Musa [48] confirmed the fact that in developing countries, people tend to use the television and radio more than the internet, as they are considered as a traditional mass media. Yakubu and Usman [49] also found that television is the major source of information in rural populated areas and is regarded as a major communication tool for information dissemination. So, what is the major tool for Lebanese people? And are there any demographic differences? The obtained results indicated that the most important means of finding information in Lebanon were radio followed by hospitals. Television, magazines, school, or internet were classified as being less important for the Lebanese to get information on healthy food topics. The media are a principal source of information about food and nutrition for many people [50] and they are capable of persuading and having a powerful influence in our society [51]. Even though new information initially becomes available in scientific journals, they are unlikely to be a direct information source for most consumers and the general public. Moreover, consumers tend to get food information through mass media rather than from doctors or dietitians [52] and Lebanese people are no exception, even after considering the average income of households.

The results further showed that radio and hospitals were again considered as the most appropriate media to disseminate information about healthy eating. This confirms that the Lebanese get the information through radio and hospitals and consider them as the most appropriate to do it. Having this high rank for radio could be due to the fact that Lebanese people spend most of their times heading to work in their private cars while the only available medium is their car radio. Additionally, all health programs are most frequently broadcasted early in the day, during morning shows, whether it is on TV or on Radio. These results confirm the theories that in a developing country the mass media is where people usually find information about food. The link between TV viewing and eating behaviour is of particular interest, which has been demonstrated in several studies. However, these can be of different nature, on the one hand, for example through cooking shows or advertisements TV can increase cues and lead to unhealthy food choices [53,54], but on the other hand, it may also incentivise the consumption of healthier foods, through proper information dissemination or leisure shows [55,56].

One related work by Georgescu et al. [34] on the means of information about dietary fibre and healthy foods found that in Romania internet was the main source of getting information (for 54.9% of participants), while the lowest was hospitals (18.2%). These results are contrary to our results where internet was the last and hospitals came in second. These differences highlight the role of the socio-political environments on the people’s perceptions, behaviour, and level of knowledge.

Regarding the first part of RQ1, the results allowed establishing the primary sources through which an effective dissemination of information is reaching the Lebanese, which are radio and hospitals/health centres, and eventually adapt strategies for its adaptation to achieve even higher level of literacy and incentivised adoption of healthier diets.

In what concerns the investigation of the possible variations according to the different sociodemographic variables considered on the most adequate means of dissemination of information, results showed that sex or living environment influenced the results for internet, while level of education influenced the results for hospitals. This means that people from rural or urban areas get information differently through the internet, and also women from men. Also, participants with a university degree get information from hospitals differently from those with a lower school level. In what concerns the opinions about the suitability of the media, living environment influences the opinions when it comes to magazines, sex influences the opinions for internet, and school level influences the opinions for hospitals. In this way people from rural areas consider radio as more appropriate than those from the cities, people with secondary school education rate hospitals higher than those with a university degree, and women consider internet a better source to disseminate information than men. This could be studied more deeply in terms of net behaviour and gender differences in future studies. It could depend on the level of trust, or on the accessibility to information while at work, among others. The work by Guiné et al. [12] presented a study on the factors related with information about food fibres in different countries and found two major factors, one related to the sources of dietary fibre and other to the health effects. Also, they found three clusters of people according to higher or lower knowledge on the above mentioned factors and the cluster membership characterisation revealed that differentiating sociodemographic variables were country, living environment, and the level of education but not age or sex.

The second research question, RQ2 was: What is the level of awareness of Lebanese people about food labelling? Are there any sociodemographic differences such as gender, age, living environment, and education level? For this matter, the attitudes of the participants toward food labelling were evaluated. The results confirmed that a high number of participants look at food labels as a way to get general information about the food products that they consume. Nowadays, consumers tend to purchase food items only if they bear available nutrition information, as a result of their continuous education and health awareness [52]. Many chronic diseases can be treated and avoided through healthy nutrition and appropriate diet [53]; a balanced life style equates the link between nutrition and health [54]. Labels are mandatory and become a source of information as they can easily educate consumers on making nutritionally appropriate choices [55], and promoting healthy dietary behaviour. Hence, consumers’ discerning skills have to be elevated constantly through additional knowledge on label information for making the appropriate choice towards a healthy diet and nutritionally balanced products [56]. On the other hand, it is also important to pay attention to consumers with more limited literacy that might lead to problems in reading and interpreting the labels [57], thus preventing them to take advantage of all the benefits that could result afterwards.

Nutritional information on food labels can guide people in making decisions about healthy food choices. Thinking critically about how food choices can have an impact on whether the choices are as healthy as possible, Lebanese dietitian and nutritionist should raise more awareness for Lebanese consumers to get the proper habits of consulting the nutritional composition of foods, and not just to trust blindly on a marketing brand that can lead to improper decision making. In several studies, there has been reported the role of mass media in the promotion of consumption of unhealthy nutrient dense foods [57], some focusing on certain groups like for example college students [58], adolescents [59], or children [60]. However, there has been a shift in the recent years towards using marketing campaigns to promote heathy eating habits rather than unhealthy. Among these works is highlighted the study by Englund et al. [61] about the effect of branded marketing and media campaigns as allies and tools to incentivise healthy eating and promote food well-being among Americans. Their results confirmed that industry, government, and nongovernmental organisations can rely on health-branding strategies as a means to adequately and efficiently increase knowledge and empower consumers to adopt healthier diets on a view to improve health and well-being. Another study by Tobey et al. [62] focused on the effect of marketing campaigns on the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

The information provided on food labelling is pivotal for consumer’s choices. It has been shown that for some consumers, healthy food labels do, to some extent, cue them when making food choices [63]. It is important to notice that consumers often find comparing healthiness of products tedious and rely on marketing strategies, such as for example highlighting the nutrition information, health claims, or the eco-friendly or fair trade tags [64,65,66,67].

Regarding the research question RQ2, the results showed that the Lebanese tend to consult the label many times when purchasing food, and when they do it, they see the nutritional information. However, aspects such as the fibre content are not checked so much and also the fibre content is not a factor that influences their food choice. In this way, it is understood that increasing the intake of fibre-rich foods has to be done through other ways than just the information on the label. Additionally, no meaningful sociodemographic variability was found, which indicated that campaigns aimed at incentivising the consumption of fibre-rich foods as a way to improve health can be targeted to the general public in Lebanon.

6 Conclusion

The results obtained from this work showed that for Lebanese participants, radio is the most recognised means for communicating information about healthy eating, followed by hospitals. Additionally, these two means were also considered as the most adequate to disseminate this type of information for Lebanese people. Significant differences were found between rural or urban living environments for radio as most appropriate means of dissemination of information and also among sexes for internet regarding either the availability of information or the appropriateness for dissemination of information.

The other subject investigated was regarding the participant’s behaviour towards nutrition labelling. A great number of people usually check the labels although some showed no interest in the food components and particularly the fibre content. The labels are considered as important sources of information for Lebanese people, but they don’t consult the nutritional composition so much as desirable in order to adjust their purchases or compare between different options available on the market.

Therefore, researchers succeeded in identifying and defining the best adequate means for Lebanese people education on the importance of food fibres on one hand (mass media: radio, hospitals, and television), and on the other, they observed the little importance that the Lebanese consumers’ still attribute to food labelling when purchasing their products. In our research findings a limitation was identified, since the authors didn’t take into consideration the level of income of the population specifically in the sample studied since Lebanon is facing a financial crisis since October 2019 and the highest level of inflation, the salaries, and income are not adjusted to the Lebanese purchasing power. Furthermore, these findings enable Lebanese people to concentrate on the most essential drivers for fibre-rich foods in order to develop a market strategy or policies and to spur more study. These findings also assist small businesses in establishing and creating consumer- and producer-focused origin-based labelling awareness and education initiatives. Advertisements or short videos can be used to educate consumers on the necessity of buying and consuming fibre-rich food for their health that is well-produced, certified, and monitored, as well as coming from a reputable source and being of high quality. It will be easy to improve the marketing of such a product. Arrangements might be made to target producers.

As for future studies, it would be interesting to explore bloggers, influencers, and WhatsApp as powerful tools for communication and dissemination of information related to food components and fibres. These tools allow diverse frames to communicate information on platform, and boosting joint action for multisectoral products. This research showed a small percentage of Lebanese people who are interested in the composition of food while checking the labels and get their information through radio but some have already begun to utilise internet media as a source of information. The media, which provide unique opportunities for information dissemination, may play an essential role in enlightening individuals about a variety of topics, health related issues, food security, and components. So, what could be the quality of information Lebanese would search for in the internet while considering food products and will they try to purchase food on social commercial platforms? These questions could be considered for future studies in our Lebanese context.