Comparison of appropriateness of Nutri-Score and other front-of-pack nutrition labels across a group of Moroccan consumers: awareness, understanding and food choices

Abstract

Background The front of pack nutrition label Nutri-Score, intended to help consumers orient their choices towards foods that are more favorable to health, was developed in France and applied in several European countries. Consideration is underway for its use in Morocco. This study aims to assess Moroccan consumers’ perception and objective understanding of Nutri-Score and 4 other nutritional information labels (Health Star Rating, Health warning, Reference Intakes and Multiple Trafic Light) and their impact on purchase intentions. Methods 814 participants were asked to choose among 3 food classes (yoghurts, biscuits and cold cuts), which ones they would prefer to buy among three products with different nutritional profiles and then to rank them according to their nutritional quality. Participants first performed these tasks without a visible nutritional label, and then, after being randomized to one of five labels tested, with the nutritional label visible on front of packs. Next, the full set of tested labels was presented to the participants who were asked a series of questions regarding their preferences, the attractiveness of the labels, their perceptions, intention to use and the trustworthiness placed in the labels. Results Compared to the Reference Intake, the Nutri-Score (OR = 2.48 [1.53–4.05], p < 0.0001), was associated with the highest improvement in the ability to correctly classify foods based on their nutritional quality. The percentage of participants who improved their food choice was higher than those who worsened it for all the labels. For yogurts and cookies, the most significant improvements were observed for the Nutri-Score and the Reference Intakes: Concerning the perception of labels, the Nutri-Score is the label that received the highest number of positive responses, whether concerning the ease of being spotted (82.2%), of being understood (74%), and to provide rapid information (68.8%). The Nutri-Score was ranked as the preferred label by 64.9% of the participants. Conclusion The Nutri-Score appears to be the most effective nutritional information system to inform consumers about the nutritional quality of foods in Morocco, where it could constitute a useful tool to help consumers in their food choices in situations of purchase.

Evaluation of the Ability of Nutri-Score to Discriminate the Nutritional Quality of Prepacked Foods Using a Sale-Weighting Approach

“…The first studies were conducted in France before and during the implementation period, followed by mostly supportive evidence from other countries. In various settings, the NS has shown to be a very effective FOPNL for identifying healthier products [16,17], improving people's food choices [18,19] and purchases [20,21]. The NS is also well perceived by consumers, ranking high with regard to liking and understanding [22,23].…”

Are Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels Influencing Food Choices and Purchases, Diet Quality, and Modeled Health Outcomes? A Narrative Review of Four Systems

“…The selection process retrieved a total of 64 original publications, that reported 65 experimental studies, addressing the selected FOPNL and selected outcomes, as displayed on Table 2 [ 12 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ,…”

Online Consumer Survey Comparing Different Front-of-Pack Labels in Greece

“…A survey of low- and middle-income consumers in Mexico, shows that labels such as the Warning Symbols, Health Star Rating or Multiple Traffic Light can help consumers choose healthier foods compared to labels such as the Guideline Daily Amounts [ 25 ]. Moreover, in a study conducted on a sample of 814 participants in Morocco testing the Nutri-Score and four other nutritional information labels such as the Health Star Rating, Warning Symbols, Reference Intakes and Multiple Traffic Light, the results showed the superiority of the Nutri-Score, which was associated with the highest improvement in the ability to properly classify foods based on their nutritional quality compared to the GDA [ 39 ]. Finally, a study published in March 2021, investigated the effect of the Nutri-Score on food purchase intentions compared to foods that had the GDA, FoPL shape or no FoPL shape in three simulation studies in students ( N = 1866), low-income people ( N = 336) and people with cardiovascular diseases ( N = 1180).…”