Australian consumers are sceptical about but influenced by claims about fat on food labels

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the beliefs and attitudes of Australian consumers to claims about fat made on the labels of packaged food. Design: Content analysis of transcripts from focus group discussions. Subjects: A total of 26 female and 10 male participants aged 20-80 y, recruited by advertisement into six focus groups, stratified by age, sex and health status. Results: Awareness of claims about fat was high in this sample of Australians and participants admitted that they influenced their purchase decisions. The most preferred form of claim was 'X% fat free'. Claims were considered most useful on foods that were high in fat. There was considerable scepticism about all nutrient claims, and consumers preferred to check claims about fat against the values in the nutrition information panel. Many claims were seen as advertising that could be misleading, deceptive or confusing. While claims about fat might prompt product trial, factors such as price, taste, naturalness, as well as other nutritional factors, also influenced purchase decisions. Some consumers believe low fat claims encourage over consumption of foods. Conclusions: Changes to regulations governing nutrition claims on food labels should be made to enhance their credibility and support their role in assisting consumers to make healthier food choices.

Understanding how consumers categorise nutritional labels: A consumer derived typology for front-of-pack nutrition labelling

“…They indicated that claims such as 'low fat' for example, might prompt them to check the nutrition information provided on either front or back-of-pack for fat levels since many participants felt that these types of 'low' claims didn't offer sufficient detail to make a product choice and often invoked mistrust, a finding consistent with a number other studies on both nutrition and health claims (Chan, 2005;Mazis, 1997). Some participants even suggested that claims could be misconstrued as being targeted towards people with specific dietary needs and may therefore be discouraging for those outside the perceived target group.…”

Australian consumer attitudes to health claim – food product compatibility for functional foods

“…It was ranked 2 nd out of 10 foods in the Netherlands, versus 8 th in Australia. This may relate to the longer history of health claims on such foods in Europe (Wolfs et al, 2006) compared to Australia, where there is significant scepticism about claims on high fat foods (Chan et al, 2005). The fact that tea was rated the most attractive food carrier by Australian consumers may be influenced by the widespread presence of health claims on teas in the Australian market .…”

Protocol for a Randomized Trial Assessing Consumer Evaluations of Pre-Packaged Foods that Systematically Vary by Nutrition Information and Product Attributes

“…The NIP can be confusing [19], especially for those with low literacy and numeracy skills [20], and is used infrequently [21][22][23]. Health claims are often regarded as a marketing tool [24,25] and consequently can be viewed with skepticism [26,27]. Reviews of the cognitive and affective effects of health claims conclude that they often induce a positivity bias.…”