Determining the habits of the consumers about reading food label in Tokat

The objective of this research is to identify label reading habits of consumers in Tokat. Total one hundred and eighty three consumers who shopping at shopping center in Tokat between the dates 03.06.2009 and 13.07.2009 constitute the sample of the study. Research datas are gathered by using questionare forms. The data?s frequency, percentage and chi-square analysis has been done.According to the results of this research 51.4% of the consumers read the food labels, 40.4% sometimes read that. 8.2 % of the consumers never read the food labels. It was also found that 92.1% of female consumers and 91.5% of male consumers read the food labels. A significant relation was not found between gender and reading of the food labels. It was found that consumers mostly read the production and expiration date informaitons on the food lables.A meaninful relation among the educational quality and habits was found. It can be said that this results shows that the educational level is effective on food shopping consciously. Most of the consumers think the label is necessary because it will help to choose foods which are nutritiously high and it will help a balanced diet. Mostly the signs and words on the labels attracts the attention of consumers.It is found out that nearly half of the consumers pay attention to the TSE sign on the label. More than half of the consumers don?t know where to ask if they have problems about labels. They firstly ask information from Consumers Protection Association ve and apply to the consumer courts..