Sustainable Diet Dimensions. Comparing Consumer Preference for Nutrition, Environmental and Social Responsibility Food Labelling: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Global food systems are currently challenged by unsustainable and unhealthy consumption and production practices. Food labelling provides information on key characteristics of food items, thereby potentially driving more sustainable food choices or demands. This review explores how consumers value three different elements of sustainable diets: Comparing consumer response to nutrition information on food labels against environmental and/or social responsibility information. Six databases were systematically searched for studies examining consumer choice/preference/evaluation of nutrition against environmental and/or social responsibility attributes on food labels. Studies were quality assessed against domain-based criteria and reported using PRISMA guidelines. Thirty articles with 19,040 participants met inclusion criteria. Study quality was mixed, with samples biased towards highly-educated females. Environmental and social responsibility attributes were preferred to nutrition attributes in 17 studies (11 environmental and six social), compared to nine where nutrition attributes were valued more highly. Three studies found a combination of attributes were valued more highly than either attribute in isolation. One study found no significant preference. The most preferred attribute was organic labelling, with a health inference likely. Consumers generally have a positive view of environmental and social responsibility food labelling schemes. Combination labelling has potential, with a mix of sustainable diet attributes appearing well-received.

Conceptual Models of Food Choice: Influential Factors Related to Foods, Individual Differences, and Society

“…Cecchini and Warin [ 85 ] did a meta-analysis and confirmed that nutrition labeling, especially interpretive labels (e.g., traffic light labels), may be an effective approach to empowering consumers in choosing healthier products and in reducing calorie intake. More recently, a review explored how consumers value and response to nutrition information on food labels against information on environmental and/or social responsibility [ 86 ]. Consumers generally have a positive view of environmental and social responsibility food labeling schemes while the most preferred attribute was organic labeling, inferring to information related to health.…”

GMO Food Labels Do Not Affect College Student Food Selection, Despite Negative Attitudes towards GMOs

“…The attitude–behavior gap (sometimes referred to as the intention–behavior gap) identifies an incongruence between self-reported attitudes and subsequent behaviors [ 18 ]. A compelling example of this gap within the food purchasing/consumption literature comes from the purchasing of organic products [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Hidalgo-Baz et al [ 24 ], for example, ascertained that a wide gap exists between consumers’ stated preference for organic products (which is high) and their actual purchasing behavior (which is low).…”

Less Is Better: How Nutrition and Low-Carbon Labels Jointly Backfire on the Evaluation of Food Products

“…Secondly, we have conducted in-depth analysis on the psychological mechanism behind the adverse effect of joint labeling and obtained a serial mediator model. The psychological mechanisms behind food labeling are rarely involved in research on food labeling [ 73 ]. Meanwhile, how the joint positive labels affect consumers’ cognition has been scarcely studied [ 39 ].…”