Paper Title
Perception of Kurdish Consumers Towards Quality and Safety Information on Food Labelling of Packed Foods

Abstract
Modernization and globalization and improvement in the food science have led to the developed the trade and consume packed foods all over the world. Particularly in the past few years in Kurdistan region has been opened towards the world and many brands of packed foods different in quality enter from its borders. Therefore, this study aimed to discover perception, awareness and use of food labelling in Kurdistan region. Across-sectional survey questionnaire was conducted among Kurdish consumer (n= 220) with different sex, ages, educations and occupations. The questions included nutritional, quality and safety aspects. The results showed that consumers purchase their products in supermarket sand business malls by 60% and 24% respectively mostly in Cans and Glass. Moreover, the results revealed that 83% of the participants seem to consult food labelling before purchase. However, there still consumers do not read labels. Among them 30% encounter difficulties in the language and 26% because of time constrain. Similarly, consumers revealed that also do not read labels when purchase quality brands, buy local products and low price products by 53%, 17% and 7% respectively. On the other hand, consumers consult label firstly for expire date and secondly for list of ingredients. Also, it was discovered that consumers look for chemical free and locally grown products. Finally, for the improvement, consumers pointed out that it is important to print the label in Kurdish (52%) and enlarge the font (size 28%). Thus, food labelling is used by Kurdish consumers however there still barriers need to be improved to increase the number of consumers who consult food labelling.