Consumers’ food choices, understanding and perceptions in response to different front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems in Belgium: results from an online experimental study

Abstract

Background Front-of-pack nutrition labels (FoPLs) are increasingly implemented by governments internationally to support consumers to make healthier food choices. Although the Nutri-Score FOPL has officially been implemented in Belgium since April 2019, no study has been conducted before its implementation to compare the effectiveness of different FOPLs. Methods The aim of this study was to compare food choices, objective understanding and perceptions of Belgian consumers in response to five different FOPLs, currently implemented in different countries internationally, namely the Health Star Ratings (HSR), the Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), Nutri-Score, Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), and Warning symbols. During the summer 2019, 1007 Belgian consumers were recruited and randomized to one of the five different FOPLs. Through an online questionnaire they were asked to choose one of three different foods within each of three categories (pizzas, cakes, breakfast cereals), as well as rank those same three foods according to nutritional quality, in the condition without as well as with FOPL. In addition, various questions were asked on their perceptions in relation to the FOPL they were exposed to. Results Perceptions of consumers were favorable for all FOPLs with no significant differences between the different FOPLs. There were no significant differences in food choices among the different FOPLs, but Nutri-Score performed best for ranking food products according to nutritional quality. Conclusions While there were no significant differences among different FOPLs for food choices and perceptions, the Nutri-Score was the most effective FOPL in informing Belgian consumers of the nutritional quality of food products.

Effectiveness of Different Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels among Italian Consumers: Results from an Online Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Compared to the RIs, the Nutri-Score was the FoPL that produced the largest increase in participants' ability to correctly rank the nutritional quality of products, followed by the HSR. These results are consistent with the findings based on the FOP-ICE study, where the Nutri-Score was observed as the best scheme to help participants identify the nutritional quality of products in different countries, including European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom [19,22,25,26]. Notably, similar results were observed in Spain, another Mediterranean country with a similar food context and dietary behaviors as Italy [19].…”

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

“…Given the limited number of studies on understanding in advertising, the comparison was made with studies that addressed the degree of understanding of the information provided on labelling/packaging. Such studies show mixed results: while some works show an understanding of the information provided on labels [45,46], others show opposite results [56,58]. In both cases, however, the studies agree that the information needs to be improved to make it easier to understand.…”

“…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].…”

Uptake of Nutri-Score during the first year of implementation in Belgium

“…Nutri-Score rates the nutritional quality of packaged foods with five colours/letters from red (least healthy) to green (most healthy) [ 3 ]. A previous study among 1007 Belgian consumers found that Nutri-Score was the most effective FOP to inform consumers about the nutritional quality of food products, compared to other existing FOP nutrition labels [ 4 ].…”