Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries
Front-of-Package labels (FoPLs) are efficient tools for increasing consumers’ awareness of foods’ nutritional quality and encouraging healthier choices. A label’s design is likely to influence its effectiveness; however, few studies have compared the ability of differen...
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doaj-3c3e53aefa694ac5be70292e2e48d8492020-11-24T21:47:41ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432018-10-011010154210.3390/nu10101542nu10101542Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 CountriesManon Egnell0Zenobia Talati1Serge Hercberg2Simone Pettigrew3Chantal Julia4Sorbonne Paris Cité Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center (CRESS), U1153 Inserm, U1125 Inra, Cnam, Paris 13 University, Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN), 93000 Bobigny, FranceSchool of Psychology, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, WA 6102, AustraliaSorbonne Paris Cité Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center (CRESS), U1153 Inserm, U1125 Inra, Cnam, Paris 13 University, Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN), 93000 Bobigny, FranceSchool of Psychology, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, WA 6102, AustraliaSorbonne Paris Cité Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center (CRESS), U1153 Inserm, U1125 Inra, Cnam, Paris 13 University, Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN), 93000 Bobigny, FranceFront-of-Package labels (FoPLs) are efficient tools for increasing consumers’ awareness of foods’ nutritional quality and encouraging healthier choices. A label’s design is likely to influence its effectiveness; however, few studies have compared the ability of different FoPLs to facilitate a consumer understanding of foods’ nutritional quality, especially across sociocultural contexts. This study aimed to assess consumers’ ability to understand five FoPLs [Health Star Rating system (HSR), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), Nutri-Score, Reference Intakes (RIs), and Warning symbol] in 12 different countries. In 2018, approximately 1000 participants per country were recruited and asked to rank three sets of label-free products (one set of three pizzas, one set of three cakes, and one set of three breakfast cereals) according to their nutritional quality, via an online survey. Participants were subsequently randomised to one of five FoPL conditions and were again asked to rank the same sets of products, this time with a FoPL displayed on pack. Changes in a participants’ ability to correctly rank products across the two tasks were assessed by FoPL using ordinal logistic regression. In all 12 countries and for all three food categories, the Nutri-Score performed best, followed by the MTL, HSR, Warning symbol, and RIs.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/10/1542nutritional labellinginternational comparisoncomprehension |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Manon Egnell Zenobia Talati Serge Hercberg Simone Pettigrew Chantal Julia |
spellingShingle |
Manon Egnell Zenobia Talati Serge Hercberg Simone Pettigrew Chantal Julia Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries Nutrients nutritional labelling international comparison comprehension |
author_facet |
Manon Egnell Zenobia Talati Serge Hercberg Simone Pettigrew Chantal Julia |
author_sort |
Manon Egnell |
title |
Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries |
title_short |
Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries |
title_full |
Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries |
title_fullStr |
Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries |
title_full_unstemmed |
Objective Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: An International Comparative Experimental Study across 12 Countries |
title_sort |
objective understanding of front-of-package nutrition labels: an international comparative experimental study across 12 countries |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Nutrients |
issn |
2072-6643 |
publishDate |
2018-10-01 |
description |
Front-of-Package labels (FoPLs) are efficient tools for increasing consumers’ awareness of foods’ nutritional quality and encouraging healthier choices. A label’s design is likely to influence its effectiveness; however, few studies have compared the ability of different FoPLs to facilitate a consumer understanding of foods’ nutritional quality, especially across sociocultural contexts. This study aimed to assess consumers’ ability to understand five FoPLs [Health Star Rating system (HSR), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), Nutri-Score, Reference Intakes (RIs), and Warning symbol] in 12 different countries. In 2018, approximately 1000 participants per country were recruited and asked to rank three sets of label-free products (one set of three pizzas, one set of three cakes, and one set of three breakfast cereals) according to their nutritional quality, via an online survey. Participants were subsequently randomised to one of five FoPL conditions and were again asked to rank the same sets of products, this time with a FoPL displayed on pack. Changes in a participants’ ability to correctly rank products across the two tasks were assessed by FoPL using ordinal logistic regression. In all 12 countries and for all three food categories, the Nutri-Score performed best, followed by the MTL, HSR, Warning symbol, and RIs. |
topic |
nutritional labelling international comparison comprehension |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/10/1542 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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