Consumers’ Awareness, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices on Menu Calorie Tagging in Putrajaya Chain Restaurants
Abstract
This cross-sectional study aimed to assess consumers' awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding menu calorie tagging in selected chain restaurants in Putrajaya. A total of 1,324 consumers were recruited through convenience sampling in the four purposely selected chain restaurants. A set of adapted and modified questionnaires was used to assess participants’ sociodemographic factors, knowledge of calorie requirements, awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding menu calorie tagging. Nearly half of the respondents (45.1%) were in the age group of 18-29 years. Approximately two-third of them (61.4%) were aware of calorie tagging on menus and 45.4% used it to avoid high calorie items. A high level of knowledge about calorie requirements was demonstrated by 54.8% of the respondents, while 95.3% expressed a positive attitude towards menu calorie tagging. However, only 38.7% demonstrated good practice in menu calorie tagging. Nearly all participants (98.6%) reported that they would support the government implementing mandatory calorie tagging on menus. Younger adults demonstrated higher awareness of menu calorie tagging (p<0.001). Furthermore, higher educational levels were associated with better knowledge, positive attitudes and better practices toward menu calorie tagging (p<0.05). Findings also revealed that female showed more positive attitudes, whereas male reported engaging in the actual practices more towards calorie tagging. Overall, higher awareness, knowledge and positive attitudes were significantly associated with improved practices related to menu calorie tagging (p<0.01) However, findings emphasize the needs of tools or programs that could be implemented to better translate it into actionable practices, enabling consumers to make healthier choices when eating out.
Full text article
References
Alassaf HI, Alaskar YA, Alqulaysh BF, AlShehri MA, Alnosian MY, Alshamrani AA, Al-Tannir MA. 2020. Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices of Saudi adults about calorie labeling in central Saudi Arabia. Saudi Med J 41(3):296. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2020.3.24916
Alotaibi NM, Alshammari GM, Alabdulkarem KB, Alotaibi AA, Mohammed MA, Alotaibi A, Yahya MA. 2023. A cross-sectional study of gender differences in calorie labeling policy among students: dietary habits, nutritional knowledge and awareness. Nutr 15(4):879. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15040879
AlShehri NM, AlMarzooqi MA. 2022. Consumers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward calorie labeling in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional assessment. Front Public Health 10:893978. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.893978
Ashari LS, Abd Rashid AA, Shahril M.R, Lee YY, Kueh YC, Abdul Hakim BN, Jan Mohamed HJ. 2022. Exploring the norms of eating-out practice among adults in Malaysia. Malays J Nutr 28(1):1–15. https://doi.org/10.31246/mjn-2021-0008
Bailey RL, Kwon K, Garcia C, Wang P. 2022. Fast food menu calorie labelling contexts as complex contributing factors to overeating. Appetite 173:105992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.105992
Cawley J, Susskind A, Willage B. 2020. The impact of information disclosure on consumer behavior: Evidence from a randomized field experiment of calorie labels on restaurant menus. J Policy Anal Manag 39(4):1020–1042. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22214
Chen R, Smyser M, Chan N, Ta M, Saelens BE, Krieger J. 2015. Changes in awareness and use of calorie information after mandatory menu labeling in restaurants in King County, Washington. Am J Public Health 105(3):546–553. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302262
Cleveland LP, Simon D, Block JP. 2020. Federal calorie labelling compliance at US chain restaurants. Obes Sci Pract 6(2):207–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.400
Cochran WG. 1977. Sampling Techniques. 3rd edn. New York (USA): John Wiley & Sons.
Cooke R, Papadaki A. 2014. Nutrition label use mediates the positive relationship between nutrition knowledge and attitudes towards healthy eating with dietary quality among university students in the UK. Appetite 83:297–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.08.039
Department of Statistics Malaysia. 2020a. Household Expenditure Survey Report 2019. https://dosm.gov.my/portal-main/release-content/household-expenditure-survey-report-2019 [Accessed 20th January 2023].
Department of Statistics Malaysia. 2020b. My Local Stats 2018 & 2019. https://www.mycensus.gov.my/index.php/ms/125-newsletter-infographics/1648-scdp-putrajaya#data-banci-2010 [Accessed 20th January 2023].
Fernandes AC, de Oliveira RC, Rodrigues VM, Fiates GMR, da Costa Proença RP. 2015. Perceptions of university students regarding calories, food healthiness, and the importance of calorie information in menu labelling. Appetite 91:173–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.04.042
Gesteiro E, García-Carro A, Aparicio-Ugarriza R, González-Gross M. 2022. Eating out of home: influence on nutrition, health, and policies: A scoping review. Nutr 14(6):1265. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14061265
Goffe L, Rushton S, White M, Adamson A, Adams J. 2017. Relationship between mean daily energy intake and frequency of consumption of out-of-home meals in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 14(1):131. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-017-0589-5
Green JE, Brown AG, Ohri-Vachaspati P. 2015. Sociodemographic disparities among fast-food restaurant customers who notice and use calorie menu labels. J Acad Nutr Diet 115(7):1093–1101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.12.004
Grzymisławska M, Puch EA, Zawada A, Grzymisławski M. 2020. Do nutritional behaviors depend on biological sex and cultural gender? Adv Clin Exp Med 29(1):165–172. https://doi.org/10.17219/acem/110392
Heiman A, Lowengart O. 2014. Calorie information effects on consumers' food choices: Sources of observed gender heterogeneity. J Bus Res 67(5):964–973. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.08.002
Hruby A, Hu FB. 2015. The epidemiology of obesity: a big picture. PharmacoEconomics 33(7):673–689. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40273-014-0243-x
Institute for Public Health. 2016. National Health and Morbidity Survey 2014: Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) Vol II: Survey Findings. Kuala Lumpur (KL): Ministry of Health Malaysia.
Institute for Public Health. 2019. National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 (NHMS 2019). Vol. I: NCDs-Non-Communicable Diseases: Risk Factors and Other Health Problems. Ministry of Health, Malaysia. https://iku.moh.gov.my/ [Accessed 20th January 2023].
Institute for Public Health. 2024. National Health and Morbidity Survey 2024 (NHMS 2024). Nutrition–Key Findings. Ministry of Health, Malaysia. https://iku.moh.gov.my/ [Accessed 20th June 2025].
Janssen HG, Davies IG, Richardson LD, Stevenson L. 2018. Determinants of takeaway and fast food consumption: A narrative review. Nutr Res Rev 31(1):16-34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954422417000178
Jeacle I, Carter C. 2023. Calorie accounting: The introduction of mandatory calorie labelling on menus in the UK food sector. Account Organ Soc 110:101468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2023.101468
Jia J, Van Horn L, Linder JA, Ackermann RT, Kandula NR, O'Brien MJ. 2023. Menu calorie label use and diet quality: A cross-sectional study. Am J Prev Med 65(6):1069–1077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.07.011
Kim YH, Lee S, Barber N. 2022. Food choice behavior: A case study in South Korea. Br Food J 124(5):1641–1658. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2021-0556
Kwon J, Cameron AJ, Hammond D, White CM, Vanderlee L, Bhawra J, Sacks G. 2019. A multi-country survey of public support for food policies to promote healthy diets: Findings from the International Food Policy Study. BMC Public Health 19(1):1205. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6947-5
Lando AM, Ferguson MS, Verrill L, Wu F, Jones-Dominic, OE, Punzalan C, Wolpert BJ. 2021. Health disparities in calorie knowledge and confidence among the U.S. adult population. J Prim Care Community Health 12:21501327211002416. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211002416
Larson N, Haynos AF, Roberto CA, Loth KA, Neumark-Sztainer D. 2018. Calorie labels on the restaurant menu: Is the use of weight-control behaviors related to ordering decisions? J Acad Nutr Diet 118(3):399–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2017.11.007
Larson N, Neumark-Sztainer D, Laska MN, Story M. 2011. Young adults and eating away from home: Associations with dietary intake patterns and weight status differ by choice of restaurant. J Am Diet Assoc 111(11):1696–1703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.08.007
Lee KW, Song WO, Cho MS. 2016. Dietary quality differs by consumption of meals prepared at home vs. outside in Korean adults. Nutr Res Pract 10(3):294–304. https://doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2016.10.3.294
Liao Y, Yang J. 2023. Status of nutrition labeling Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of residents in the community and structural equation modeling analysis. Front Nutr 10:1097562. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1097562
Liu J, Mozaffarian D, Sy S, Lee Y, Wilde PE, Abrahams-Gessel S, Gaziano T, Micha R. 2020. Health and economic impacts of the national menu calorie labeling law in the United States: A microsimulation study. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 13(6):e006313. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.119.006313
Marina M, Asma A, Siti J, Rahijan AW, Wan Zainal S. 2020. Nutrition menu labelling in Terengganu: A cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitudes, perception and their relationship with healthy food choices. Food Res 4:1573–1581. https://doi.org/10.26656/fr.2017.4(5).138
McKinnon RA, Oladipo T, Ferguson MS, Jones OE, Maroto ME, Wolpert B. 2019. Reported knowledge of typical daily calorie requirements: Relationship to demographic characteristics in US adults. J Acad Nutr Diet 119(11):1831–1841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2019.04.024
Murphy SA, Weippert MV, Dickinson KM, Scourboutakos MJ, L'Abbé MR. 2020. Cross-sectional analysis of calories and nutrients of concern in Canadian chain restaurant menu items in 2016. Am J Prev Med 59(4):e149–e159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.04.020
Petimar J, Zhang F, Rimm EB, Simon D, Cleveland LP, Gortmaker SL, Bleich SN, Polacsek M, Roberto CA, Block JP. 2021. Changes in the calorie and nutrient content of purchased fast food meals after calorie menu labeling: A natural experiment. Plos Medicine 18(7):e1003714. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003714
[NCCFN] National Coordinating Committee on Food and Nutrition. 2017. Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Malaysia: A Report of the Technical Working Group on Nutritional Guidelines. Putrajaya (KL): Ministry of Health Malaysia.
Radwan H, Faroukh EM, Obaid RS. 2017. Menu labeling implementation in dine-in restaurants: The public’s knowledge, attitude and practices. Arch Public Health 75(1):28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-017-0177-9
Raffar Z, Aida IN, Jalani H, Nik Dahalan NN, Abdul Kadir NA, Mohd Adnan SD, Md Nasir MF. 2021. Pembangunan minda remaja menurut perspektif ‘ulwan: Tinjauan terhadap amalan keluarga di Putrajaya. https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/54225/ [Accessed 20th January 2023].
Tariq M, Hayati KS. 2018. Perceived barriers of physical activity among Kospen community in Putrajaya. IJPHCS 5(6):332–344.
Turkistani AM, Saaty AH. 2020. Nutritional knowledge and consumers’ perception toward menu calorie labeling use in Saudi Arabia. J Organ Behav Res 5(1):148–163.
[WOF] World Obesity Federation. 2022. World Obesity Atlas 2022. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wof-files/World_Obesity_Atlas_2022.pdf [Accessed 20th January 2023].
Wu MJ, Zhao K, Fils-Aime F. 2022. Response rates of online surveys in published research: a meta-analysis. Comput Hum Behav Rep 7:100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100206
Zulkifli NFA, Asma’ A, Yusof HM, Khairil-Shazmin K, Zakaria NS, Mustafa M and Mhd Jalil AM. 2020. Evaluation of a voluntary augmented reality nutrition menu labelling application (Nutrilabelapps©) usage in a university café: A cross-sectional study in Terengganu, Malaysia. Food Res 4(6):2296–2305. https://doi.org/10.26656/fr.2017.4(6).313
Authors
Copyright (c) 2026 Jurnal Gizi dan Pangan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyrights of manuscripts shall be assigned/transferred to Jurnal Gizi dan Pangan (Indonesian Journal of Nutrition and Food).
Article Details
How to Cite
