Sugar, salt or fat – do the Scandinavians agree?

Zapera has done a very up-to-date Scandinavian survey about people’s attitudes towards the contents of food. It reveals that 50% of all women have concerns towards this. Women are also more concerned than men.

Fat, sugar and sweetener are the ingredients that people are most concerned about and that they try to avoid consuming. People are most suspicious about the contents in sausages and pre-packed ready meals, but are also suspicious when it comes to products like fruit yogurt and juice.

There are interesting differences between the Scandinavian countries. In Denmark the consumers are in general significantly more concerned than in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Also, more Danish consumers read the product label, especially if they have not used the product before. In these cases 22% of the Danes always read the label. The Danes also have the most negative attitudes towards fat.

In Sweden the concern is especially directed towards sweeteners and sugar, which is not the case in Denmark to the same extend. In Finland they are worried about the amount of salt, which is not the case in the other three countries. Norway has the least concerns of the contents of food.

“Light” has become an ordinary expression on food packaging. It is perceived quite negatively in Sweden, but on the contrary very positive in Finland. “Calcium” and “vitamin fortified” is perceived significantly more negative in Denmark than in Finland. “Organic” is perceived very positively in all countries, but most positively in Denmark, where organic goods have also gained their strongest foothold.

When it comes to fat it seems like there is a clear aversion to it in Denmark and Sweden, while this discussion apparently is not as topical in Norway. Here the attitudes are most positive towards omega 3-fat. It is also revealed that the knowledge about different kinds of fat is relatively low in all countries. This concerns for instance knowledge about single unsaturated fat.

The results can be compared to a survey containing the same questions, conducted in 2006 only in Sweden. The changes from one year to the next are small but the discussion about sugar seems to fade.

Ask Zapera if you are interested in a presentation.

Source: Zapera News, Issue 25, February 2007