On-the-Pack Voluntary Well-Being Messaging for Milks Targeting Chinese Older Adults: A Content Analysis

Abstract

China is experiencing severe population aging. Given that milks targeting older adults are one of the most popular foods designed for Chinese older adults (COA), this study investigated on-the-pack (OTP) voluntary well-being messaging (VWM, ways of communicating a product’s broad well-being benefits through information on food content or statements linked to favourable components, functions, or well-being outcomes) for milk targeting COA. Over 200 products identified from two sources (JD.com and Mintel’s global new products database), were analysed for type, content, and VWM frequency for different brand origins and milk sources of various animal species, nutrition claim regulation compliance and alignment with nutrition facts. The results suggested: (1) different brand origins (domestic vs. international) and milk source (cow vs. goat) highlighted different well-being aspects of products, (2) three products failed to comply with government regulations made for nutrition labelling of pre-packed foods (GB 28050-2011), but (3) excepting fat, all ‘contains’ claims and most ‘high’ claims did not reflect significantly greater levels of nutrients, compared to products with no claims. The findings create a comprehensive picture of OTP VWM for milks targeting older adults in China, providing useful information for consumer, domestic, and international dairy industries, and policymakers.

Product Factors Affecting Milk Choices among Chinese Older Adults

“…Eight powdered milk products, the dominant milk type for older adults in China [6], were used for the choice simulations. Theoretically, in the purchase decision-making process, consumers gather product information to evaluate possible alternatives based on their knowledge, situation, and previous experiences [9] (pp.…”

“…This information provided the basis to establish a product factor consideration list for the experiment (detailed working definitions with examples are listed in Table 1). Price tags indicated brand, size, unit, product origin, and price (Figure 1), whilst the product packages conveyed mandatory on-the-pack (OTP) well-being messaging (WM), including brand, origin, manufacturer information, nutrition information table, ingredient list, production date, and expiration date, as well as voluntary OTP WM, including nutrition-, health-, ingredient-, brand-, sensory-and certificate-related information [6]. As shown in Table 1, in this study, OTP WM refers to the voluntary information, except that OTP nutrition-and ingredient-related WM also included the mandatory nutrition information table and mandatory ingredient list, respectively.…”

“…As shown in Table 1, in this study, OTP WM refers to the voluntary information, except that OTP nutrition-and ingredient-related WM also included the mandatory nutrition information table and mandatory ingredient list, respectively. OTP WM, including nutrition-, health-, ingredient-, brand-, sensory-and certificate-related information [6]. As shown in Table 1, in this study, OTP WM refers to the voluntary information, except that OTP nutrition-and ingredient-related WM also included the mandatory nutrition information table and mandatory ingredient list, respectively.…”

“…Despite being imported, Product A was the lowest in price. According to a previous study [6], milk powders targeting COA are also made from other milk sources, particularly goat milk. Consequently, Product Z and Product C were selected, as they were made from goat milk by a domestic and an international company, respectively.…”

“…Considering its superior nutritional value, particularly in calcium and protein [3], milk has become one of the most popular food products designed for Chinese older adults (COA) [4,5]. In 2021, there were more than 200 milk products targeting COA available in the market, representing 117 manufacturers, both domestic and overseas [6].…”