Is FOP Nutrition Label Nutri-Score Well Understood by Consumers When Comparing the Nutritional Quality of Added Fats, and Does It Negatively Impact the Image of Olive Oil?

Abstract

It has been suggested that the current ranking of olive oil by Nutri-Score (C) is not in line with its nutritional quality and could have a negative impact on the sales and consumption of olive oil, especially compared to other added fats with lower nutritional qualities One of the objectives of this study is to investigate consumers’ understanding of Nutri-Score when comparing the nutritional quality of added fats, and to test whether or not Nutri-Score has a negative impact on the image and the choice of olive oil in a sample of Spanish consumers. A cross-sectional study of 486 Spanish adults (mean age ± SD: 45.8 ± 14.0 years; 48.6% women) was conducted. Subjects were recruited through a web panel provider to participate in an online questionnaire. Almost 80% of participants declared that Nutri-Score was useful for recognizing the differences in nutritional quality between the eight added fats presented in the study; 89.1% rightly identified that olive oil was among the added fats with the best nutritional quality (vs. 4.1% for rapeseed oil (Nutri-Score C), and less than 3% for other added fats (Nutri-Score D or E)). When asked about which added fat they would buy more frequently, 86.2% of participants selected olive oil. Then, after being reminded that among added fats, the Nutri-Score C given to olive oil was the best grade, a majority of participants declared that they would keep consuming olive oil as much as before (71.4%). Finally, almost 78% of participants thought that Nutri-Score should be displayed on olive oil. In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that displaying Nutri-Score on olive oil was well accepted and understood by a large majority of participants who appeared to accept the current ranking of the Nutri-Score for olive oil (Nutri-Score C).

Performance and discriminatory capacity of Nutri-Score in branded foods in Greece

“…As far as, olive oil is concerned it is true that it is not graded more favorably than all fats available in the Greek marketplace and in fact a large proportion of margarines would receive a similar Nutri-Score to olive oil. It is important that future research performs more targeted analysis in fats and oils, in order to understand whether there is still a need for further finetuning of the algorithm although preliminary data suggest against it ( 17 ). The second issue is linked with the nutritional composition of the fats that are graded similarly to olive oil.…”

“…The Nutri-Score algorithm, is currently the strongest candidate for application across Europe; however there are concerns raised by some Mediterranean countries that the algorithm has not taken into account the specificities of the food system in the region (16)(17)(18). The validation of nutrient profiling systems and especially the assessment of the impact of FOP labeling policies is a data-intensive task.…”

Alignment of Nutri-Score with Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: A Food Level Analysis

“…However, if Nutri-Score is to be launched regionally it is important to understand how the algorithm performs against not just national guidelines but with the overarching dietary pattern that serves as their inspiration, the Mediterranean Diet itself, and the foods that compose it [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Characteristics and trends in global olive oil research: A bibliometric analysis

“…Recently, olive oil was reported to protect the heart by improving oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, thrombosis, blood pressure, and lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. It is recommended to consume a large amount of olive oil to prevent CHD (Fialon et al ., 2021). An increasing number of reports suggest that it has anti‐inflammatory and disease‐preventing features (Foscolou et al ., 2018).…”