Health labelling can influence taste perception and use of table salt for reduced-sodium products

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effect of front-of-pack labels on taste perception and use of table salt for currently available and sodium-reduced soups. Design: Within-subject design. Setting: Sensory laboratory. Subjects: Participants (n 50, mean age 34?8 (SD 13?6) years) were randomly served nine soups (250 ml each) across 3 d. Servings differed in: (i) health label (i.e. no health label, reduced-salt label or Heart Foundation Tick); and (ii) sodium reduction (no reduction -benchmark, 15 % less sodium or 30 % less sodium). Before tasting, participants rated their expected salt intensity and liking. After tasting, participants rated their perceived salt intensity and liking, after which they could add salt to the soup to make it more palatable. Results: Reduced-salt labels generated a negative taste expectation and actual taste experience in terms of liking (P , 0?05) and perceived saltiness (P , 0?05). Perceived saltiness of sodium-reduced soups decreased more (P , 0?05), and consumers added more salt (P , 0?05), when soups carried the reduced-salt label. The tick logo and soups without health labels had no such influence on taste perception. Conclusions: Emphasizing salt reduction by means of a front-of-pack label can have a negative effect on taste perception and salt use, especially when consumers are able to taste differences between their regular soup and the sodium-reduced soup. Overall health logos which do not emphasize the reduction in salt are less likely to affect perceived salt intensity and therefore are viable solutions to indicate the healthiness of sodium-reduced products.

Credence and the effect on consumer liking of food – A review

“…Expectations, generated by information provided, are reported to have an effect on hedonic ratings in the case of health and nutrition claims for biscuits (Carillo, Varela & Fiszman, 2012a;Carillo et al, 2012b), soup with a reduced salt health label (Liem et al, 2012a), and nutritional facts on milk and soybean beverages (Villegas, Carbonell & Costell, 2008). Expectations had no effect in two cases, one where nutritional facts were provided on yogurt and fermented milk (Bayarri, Carbonell, Barrios & Costell, 2010) and one where consumers were informed about alcohol-free wine (Meillon et al, 2010).…”

Effect of 25% Sodium Reduction on Sales of a Top‐Selling Bread in Remote Indigenous Australian Community Stores: A Controlled Intervention Trial

“…These comments came in equal proportions from the control group as the intervention group, indicating that store employees perceived a difference because they were expecting the bread to be different or due to attention bias. There is evidence that labelling foods as no/low/reduced salt can influence expectation and taste perception [24,25]. Liem et al (2012) found that when soups were labelled “now with reduced salt”, participants expected to like them less than the same soups without the labelling [25].…”

Influence of Dietary Salt Knowledge, Perceptions, and Beliefs on Consumption Choices after Stroke in Uganda

“…Less educated respondents are less likely to check nutrition labels as an aid to lower salt intake (23, 24). To increase the value of food labels, there is need for a system that makes the salt content of foods easily apparent regardless of consumers’ ability to read (25). A scheme that includes color-coded interpretation of nutrient levels is most likely to help consumers identify at a glance those foods low in salt (26).…”