Identifying Food Labeling Effects on Consumer Behavior

Araya, Sebastian; Elberg, Andrés; Noton, Carlos; Schwartz, D.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3195500

Cited by 25 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In the case of evaluations, only a process evaluation was considered 6 months after the implementation of the law and therefore, it only would be able to provide information on self‐reported compliance and people's self‐reported perceptions . More detailed evaluations considering consumer understanding of the warning label, changes in food purchases and dietary intake, and the industry responses through food reformulation currently are being conducted by national and international scholars . Given the multifactorial and complex nature of the obesity epidemic, it is expected that obesity trends will not immediately level off; therefore, it becomes crucial to measure intermediate outcomes such as consumer's behaviours to make sure that regulatory actions are achieving their intended impact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural responses to the obesity and non‐communicable diseases epidemic: Update on the Chilean law of food labelling and advertising

et al. 2018

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Chile approved the law of food labelling and advertising in 2012; this law aims to address the obesity epidemic, particularly in children. The implementation details were published in 2015, and the law was implemented finally in 2016, as described in the current article. Regulated foods were defined based on a specially developed nutrient profiling, which considered natural foods as gold standard. For liquid foods, amounts of energy, sugars, saturated fats, and sodium in 100 mL of cow's milk were used as cut-offs. For solid foods, values within the 90th -99th percentile range for energy and critical nutrients were selected as cut-off within a list of natural foods.A stop sign stating "High in " was chosen as warning label for packaged regulated foods. Regulated foods were also forbidden to be sold or offered for free at kiosks, cafeterias, and feeding programme at schools and nurseries. Besides, regulated foods cannot be promoted to children under 14 years. A staggered implementation of the regulation was decided, with nutrients cut-offs becoming increasingly stricter over a 3-year period. These regulatory efforts are in the right direction but will have to be sustained and complemented with other actions to achieve their ultimate impact of halting the obesity epidemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural responses to the obesity and non‐communicable diseases epidemic: Update on the Chilean law of food labelling and advertising

et al. 2018

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“…Real-world effects of nutrition labeling in the supermarket were examined previously [ 15 , 16 , 18 – 23 ], but a comparison of study findings is not straight forward. The methodological designs (natural experiment or randomized controlled trial), analytic approaches (CITS, ITSA, or between group comparison), the placement of the nutrition labels (FOP, on-shelf or via a mobile app), the type of labels (nutrient-specific or summary system), and the food categories on which the labels are implemented all vary across studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, evidence from natural experiments are also needed as these results are more generalizable. Six studies using data from experiments in supermarket settings showed mixed evidence regarding the effect of nutrient-specific FOP labels [ 18 – 20 ] and the on-shelf Guiding Star summary scheme [ 21 – 23 ] on food sales or purchases. These studies used various types of labels implemented across various food categories – potentially explaining the mixed results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many countries have mandatory nutrition facts panels on the backside of prepackaged food products. Some countries additionally have mandatory FOP nutrition labels on prepackaged food products (e.g., Chile and Finland) and other countries have voluntary industry-designed nutrition labels such as the Facts Up Front label in the United States and the supermarket color-coded on-shelf sugar labels across supermarket chains in the Netherlands [ 5 , 18 ]. This study evaluated the effectiveness of such an industry-designed color-coded on-shelf sugar label (a type of nutrient-specific label) on the number of non-alcoholic beverage sales and revenue using a natural experimental design including comparison stores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of on-shelf sugar labeling on beverage sales in the supermarket: a comparative interrupted time series analysis of a natural experiment

Hoenink

Stuber

Lakerveld

et al. 2021

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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Background Nutrition labels show potential in increasing healthy food and beverage purchases, but their effectiveness seems to depend on the type of label, the targeted food category and the setting, and evidence on their impact in real-world settings is limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an industry-designed on-shelf sugar label on the sales of beverages with no, low, medium and high sugar content implemented within a real-world supermarket. Methods In week 17 of 2019, on-shelf sugar labels were implemented by a Dutch supermarket chain. Non-alcoholic beverages were classified using a traffic-light labeling system and included the beverage categories “green” for sugar free (< 1.25 g/250 ml), “blue” for low sugar (1.25–6.24 g/250 ml), “yellow” for medium sugar (6.25–13.5 g/250 ml) and “amber” for high sugar (> 13.5 g/250 ml). Store-level data on beverage sales and revenue from 41 randomly selected supermarkets for 13 weeks pre-implementation and 21 weeks post-implementation were used for analysis. In total, 30 stores implemented the on-shelf sugar labels by week 17, and the 11 stores that had not were used as comparisons. Outcome measures were differences in the number of beverages sold in the four label categories and the total revenue from beverage sales in implementation stores relative to comparison stores. Analyses were conducted using a multiple-group Interrupted Time Series Approach. Results of individual store data were combined using random effect meta-analyses. Results At the end of the intervention period, the changes in sales of beverages with green (B 3.4, 95%CI -0.3; 7.0), blue (B 0.0, 95%CI -0.6; 0.7), yellow (B 1.3, 95%CI -0.9; 3.5), and amber (B 0.9, 95%CI -5.5; 7.3) labels were not significantly different between intervention and comparison stores. The changes in total revenues for beverages at the end of the intervention period were also not significantly different between intervention and comparison stores. Conclusion The implementation of an on-shelf sugar labeling system did not significantly decrease unhealthy beverage sales or significantly increase healthier beverage sales. Nutrition labeling initiatives combined with complementary strategies, such as pricing strategies or other healthy food nudging approaches, should be considered to promote healthier beverage purchases.

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“…1a and b). These food groups were selected because they include products that have been associated with increasing diet-related noncommunicable diseases (i.e., savory snacks, breakfast cereals, sweetened beverages, fast food, milk and dairy sweetened products) [32] and are susceptible to consumer-behavior change according to previous studies [33]. Food products were classified according to their nutritional quality with the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC) model and a variety of products ranging in their nutritional quality were selected.…”

Section: ) Ecuadorian Multiple Traffic Lights (Mtl)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of front-of-pack nutrition labels on consumer purchasing intentions: a randomized experiment in low- and middle-income Mexican adults

et al. 2020

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Background: Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labeling is a cost-effective strategy to help consumers make informed and healthier food choices. We aimed to investigate the effect of the FOP labels used in the Latin American region on consumers' shopping intentions when prompted to make their choices with specific nutrients-to-limit in mind among low-and middle-income Mexican adults (> 18 y). Methods: In this experimental study of an online simulated shopping situation participants (n = 2194) were randomly assigned to one of three labeling conditions: Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), or red Warning Labels (WL). Participants were required to view a video explaining how to correctly interpret the assigned label. Primary outcomes were the overall nutritional quality (estimated using the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion [NPSC] and NPSC baseline score) and mean energy and nutrient content of purchases. Secondary outcomes included shopping time variables. We also evaluated the impact of the labels across food categories (ready-made foods, dairy beverages, non-dairy beverages, salty snacks, and breakfast cereals) and sociodemographic subgroups.Results: The MTL and the WL led to a better overall nutritional quality of the shopping cart compared to the GDA (p < 0.05). According to the NPSC score, the WL led to a better nutritional quality across breakfast cereals and salty snacks compared to the GDA (p < 0.05); a similar effect was observed for the MTL among non-dairy beverages (p < 0.05). The MTL and the WL required shorter shopping times compared to GDA (p < 0.05). Across all labeling conditions, the nutritional quality of the shopping cart tended to be lower among those with low income, education and nutrition knowledge levels.Conclusion: WL and MTL may foster healthier food choices in a faster way among low-and middle-income groups in Mexico. To produce an equitable impact among consumers of all socioeconomic strata, efforts beyond simply the inclusion of a communication campaign on how to use and interpret FOP labels will be required.(Continued on next page)

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Identifying Food Labeling Effects on Consumer Behavior

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Structural responses to the obesity and non‐communicable diseases epidemic: Update on the Chilean law of food labelling and advertising

Structural responses to the obesity and non‐communicable diseases epidemic: Update on the Chilean law of food labelling and advertising

The effect of on-shelf sugar labeling on beverage sales in the supermarket: a comparative interrupted time series analysis of a natural experiment

Impact of front-of-pack nutrition labels on consumer purchasing intentions: a randomized experiment in low- and middle-income Mexican adults

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