Objective: To identify the information that adult consumers use on food labels, the difficulties they experience when using food labels and their reasons for not always using food labels. The relationship between their understanding of the information on the food label and their ability to make informed food choices was also investigated by means of their being required to perform labelling tasks. Design: A cross-sectional and descriptive research approach was followed. Data were collected by means of the administration of questionnaires. Setting: Selected supermarkets in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the North West Province, South Africa. Subjects: Questionnaires were administered to 174 consumers of African descent and Caucasians, $18 years of age, who were involved in purchasing household food products. Results: The information that is mostly used on food labels includes the expiry date, the list of ingredients and nutritional information, such as fat and cholesterol content. The difficulties associated with food labels were indicated mainly as being the font size of the print, whereas the reasons for not reading food labels were related to product attributes ('taste and price are more important than is the nutritional content of the food product'), demographic characteristics ('lack of education and nutritional knowledge') and situational factors ('experiencing time constraints'). Conclusions:Results from the present study indicated that the expiry date was the most important information on a food label used by consumers. Scores from the labelling tasks showed that the respondents did not always understand how to use the information on food labels in order to make informed food choices. Barriers to consumer understanding and the use of food labels are highlighted. Improvements on current food labels in South Africa are suggested. Guidelines for consumer education regarding the use of food labels are also provided. Keywords Food label Understanding UseSouth Africa is a country that is characterised by a wide diversity of cultures and a vast range of public health issues. Such health issues are associated with infectious and chronic diseases, rapid urbanisation, lifestyle factors and the adoption of a Western type of diet (1,2) . Furthermore, many South Africans do not know how to choose the right type and quantities of food to satisfy their nutritional requirements (3) . Therefore, there is a need to help South African consumers make better food choices during food purchasing.The food label forms an integral part of the consumers' decision-making processes, as it provides nutritional information that could assist them in making healthy food choices (2,4) . Prior exposure to food labels also limits consumers' information searching and consequently saves them time during food purchase (5) . Previous research has found that consumers tend to read the information that is supplied on food labels without really understanding it, which limits the effective use of food labels (6) . At present, although food...

The need for effective apparel waste management is motivated by the increasing cost and decreasing availability of landfill space and the dwindling of natural resources. The aim of this study was to identify the current solid waste disposal and recycling practices of the apparel industry in South Africa and to determine their attitude and willingness towards recycling, their perception of the feasibility thereof, barriers to recycling and marketing strategies that would be appropriate for products made from recycled materials. A structured questionnaire was mailed to apparel manufacturers in South Africa. The results indicated that most apparel manufacturers use landfills to dispose of their waste, while approximately half recycle some of the waste. They are fairly positive towards recycling, with consideration of economical feasibility. Phi-coefficients show no practically significant relationship between company size and the use of recycled materials. The most important barriers to recycling are lack of equipment and technology, lack of material to recycle and lack of consumer awareness. Marketing strategies for recycled products are recommended. It is concluded that consumer awareness and knowledge regarding recycled apparel products should be developed in order to ensure a market and that apparel manufacturers should be encouraged to recycle more extensively, in order to ensure that resources will not be exhausted unnecessarily and the environment will be preserved optimally.

The need for recycling of textile and apparel waste is motivated by the increased costs of landfills, the decreased availability of landfill space and the dwindling of our natural resources.

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