ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Policy and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1644344
This article is part of the Research TopicIndustry and Individuals: Branding, Labelling, and Marketing of Food Products: Volume IIView all 3 articles
Compliance of pre-packaged food products with the Nigerian national food labelling guidelines: The NigeFE Study
Provisionally accepted
Gideon Onyedikachi Iheme1,2*
Ifeoma Mercy Egechizuorom3
Linda Obianuju Edafioghor4Elizabeth Monday Okonkwo2Linda Eneh Olah5Barbara Adimchinobi Onyeonu6Oluwadamilare Emmanuel Kupoluyi7Hannah Chinyere Enuka8
Adimchi Dike Adile9Hajara Idris10Obinna Chimela Ogbonna11Nwabumma Cynthia Asouzu12Chinyere Ikejiofor13- 1Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- 2Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria
- 3Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, Umuahia, Nigeria
- 4Federal Medical Centre Asaba, Asaba, Nigeria
- 5Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria
- 6University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
- 7National Rehabilitation Hospital, Rochestown Avenue, Dublin, Ireland
- 8University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
- 9Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Nigeria
- 10Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina, Nigeria
- 11Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ife, Nigeria
- 12East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Canterbury, United Kingdom
- 13National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Abuja, Nigeria
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This study examines the compliance of food labelling with pre-packaged foods sold in Nigerian markets with national guidelines. A total of 883 pre-packaged foods from broad categories were purposively enlisted from selected Nigerian stores and supermarkets. The food label information was compared with eleven (11) food and other nutrition labelling requirements stipulated by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the International Network for Food and Obesity /Non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) food label components. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression were computed to explore food labelling compliance and associated determinants. The majority (>70.0%) of the pre-packaged foods complied with all aspects of the guidelines except quantitative ingredient declaration (39.1%) as well as nutrient declaration of priority (56.5%) and non-priority (38.1%) nutrients. Declaration of information on the food label, name or description of the food, list /statement of ingredients, net quantity, name and address of manufacturer, and instructions for use had a consistent compliance level across majority (>80.0%) of the food categories. Overall, a mean food label compliance score of 9.19 + 1.43 out of a possible 11.0 was recorded. The inclusion of supplementary nutrition information and the declaration of non-priority nutrients in pre-packaged foods were each significantly (P < 0.01) associated with approximately a 0.50-point higher compliance score with national food labelling guidelines than pre-packaged foods lacking this information. High compliance with the guidelines was reported; however, the declarations of nutrient and quantitative ingredients were not sufficiently met. Prioritizing food labelling in policy formulation, alongside targeted support for food manufacturers particularly local producers will help address existing gaps across the food compliance spectrum.
Keywords: Food labelling, regulation, Compliance, Pre-packaged foods, Nigeria
Received: 10 Jun 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Iheme, Egechizuorom, Edafioghor, Okonkwo, Olah, Onyeonu, Kupoluyi, Enuka, Adile, Idris, Ogbonna, Asouzu and Ikejiofor. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gideon Onyedikachi Iheme, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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