Consumer Use of Package-Level Food Safety Information in Imported Packaged Foods: Perceived Hazards, Label Trust, and Market Entry in Taiwan

Abstract

Imported packaged foods are often purchased under conditions of limited consumer verification, where consumers cannot directly confirm safety-related attributes at the point of purchase and must rely on package-level label information as a visible cue of product identity, disclosure, and apparent safety. This study examined how food safety risk perception, trust in packaging-label information, and food neophilia were associated with consumer engagement with imported packaged foods in Taiwan. An self-administered online survey was completed by 454 adults in Taiwan. The questionnaire assessed perceived food safety hazards, trust in packaging-label information, food neophilia, and imported packaged food purchasing. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, bivariate correlations, Friedman tests, a market-entry logistic model, a purchaser-only ordered logistic model, and item-level Mann-Whitney U tests were applied. The highest-rated perceived hazards were unknown ingredients whose safety could not be confirmed, illegal food additives, pesticide residues, natural food toxins, and microbiological contamination. The most trusted package-level label information items were expiry date, ingredient declaration, and disclosure of food additive names. Food safety risk perception was associated with lower odds of market entry, whereas trust in packaging-label information was associated with higher odds of ever having purchased imported packaged foods. Among prior purchasers, food neophilia was associated with higher odds of being in a more frequent purchase category. Item-level comparisons further showed that never-purchasers reported greater concern about all retained food safety risk items, with the largest difference observed for microbiological contamination. These findings suggest that package-level label information functions as a consumer-facing food safety cue, but it should be interpreted as a partial cue rather than as direct evidence of product safety.