Brazilian food labeling: a new proposal and its impact on consumer understanding

Abstract

The difficulty in understanding food labels demands their reformulation. The objective was to elaborate a proposal of nutritional labeling and to compare its understanding with current labels. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. Socioeconomic and health data were collected and questionnaires were used to evaluate reading and comprehension of the current label (Group A) and the proposed label (Group P). Student's t test and chi-square test (p <5%) were applied. A total of 980 consumers participated at supermarkets in a Brazilian capital, with 38.2 ± 13.9 years old, predominantly women, high school, family income of 2 to 4 minimum wages, without chronic disease, and Body Mass Ondex of 25,6 ± 4.7 kg/m 2. Reading and comprehension were satisfactory for 54.1% and 36.1% of Group A and for 93.3% and 96.9% of Group P, respectively. Among the interviewees, 36.5% reported that the current label helped and 97.5% for the proposed label. All the answers had differences when comparing the groups (p <0.05) and the comprehension of the proposed label was higher (p = 0.026). Conclusion: the understanding of the proposed label was better than that of the current label, reinforcing the need for its reformulation.

Consumers value healthy eating and environmental responsibility: how negative food contexts aid decision-making

“…On the contrary, as traceable food is agreed to be a solution to reduce perceived uncertainty (Chen & Huang, 2013;Buaprommee & Polyorat, 2016;Dang et al, 2019) and build trust (Choe et al, 2009), the positive influence of perceived risk on attitude toward traceable meat in this study hence makes sense. In this vein, consumers with in the form of more drawings and colors, rather than being too technical, which would attract more frequent readings (Schuch et al, 2019;Jacintho et al, 2020). We also suggest the inclusion of food assurance logos and a message indicating the environmental-friendliness of the product on the product label, which serves to provide visual inspection and a sense of control (Van Rijswijk & Frewer, 2012).…”

“…For traceable meat marketers, the prospective target is more likely to be consumers with health consciousness and environmental consciousness as these consumers care more about the quality and safety of their meat consumed. For that reason, food marketers should focus on delivering the message of quality assurance or risk-free products to the consumers, potentially through tailored health information on the product label (Dang et al, 2019;Jacintho et al, 2020). Moreover, it is also worth noting that the product label should be simplified…”

Sustainability assessment of food industry with the approach of water, energy and food nexus

“…Resources and resources such as water, energy, manpower and raw materials and inputs are used in the form of flows and Sustainability assessment of food industry with the approach of water, energy and food nexus cycles in the form of human actions that create goods and services to meet different levels of human needs (Jacintho et al, 2020).…”

How Is Functional Food Advertising Understood? An Approximation in University Students

“…A review of the literature highlights how studies on consumers' understanding of health claims largely focus on that of food packaging and labelling. The current research agenda is marked by research on the layout and location of information on the FOP (Front of Package) and its understanding by the consumer, the well-known "label effect" [40,41], narrowed to different geographical areas such as Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, United Kingdom and the Netherlands in Europe [42][43][44][45][46], Brazil and Mexico in Latin America [47,48], or the United States [49][50][51]; Australia and New Zealand [52,53].…”