Tensions and Opportunities: An Activity Theory Perspective on Date and Storage Label Design through a Literature Review and Co-Creation Sessions

Abstract

On-pack date and storage labeling is one of the direct information carriers used by the food industry to communicate product shelf-life attributes to consumers. However, it is also one of the major factors that contribute to consumer food waste issues. This study aims to systematically understand the existing tensions within the current date and storage labeling system and explore the potential opportunities for design to intervene. First, we conducted a literature review to identify tensions that the consumer encounters in their food edibility assessment system and summarize the corresponding proposal for actions. 12 tensions and 16 proposals for action were identified and further framed according to a conceptual model developed in this study. Following this, the literature findings were refined and grounded in co-creation sessions in consumer workshops and industry practitioner interviews to develop specific labeling-related design implications. The findings indicate the importance of investigating the role that date and storage labeling play from a system level. Furthermore, we suggest that the conceptual model developed in this study can be used not only as a framework that guides researchers to identify and analyze labeling-related food waste problems that each individual consumer encounters, but also as a guideline that assists packaging design practitioners in exploring potential design opportunities to solve the problem from a system perspective.

A review of packaging‐related studies in the context of household food waste: Drivers, solutions and avenues for future research

“…Of these reports, four 15,16,57,90 are WRAP reports included in this review. The 2008 report 16 on date labels and portion sizes is cited by two 39,77 studies. A 2011 report 15 on consumer understanding and use of date labelling and food storage information is cited by six 22,32,39,41,91 studies.…”

On the other side of change : Exploring the role that design can play in retaining sustainable doings

“…energy conservation artefacts and monitoring systems (Svelvefors et al, 2015, viktorelius & Lundh, 2019, and 5). design related to sustainable consumption in general (Perold et al, 2019;Chu et al, 2020;Khan et al, 2015). It has to be noted that the design interventions that most of the included studies developed and evaluated were in digital form.…”

A meta-synthesis of the use of activity theory in design for sustainable behaviour

“…Based on this understanding, they proposed a series of design interventions that involved both material and behavioural dimensions (e.g., webbased user-oriented applications with social media campaigns) for exploring potential information system design opportunities to tackle climate change adaptation challenges (Hasan & Meloche 2013;. Moreover, with the goal to reduce date labelling-related household food waste, Chu et al (2020) applied the concept of internal and external mediating artefacts for identifying potential opportunities for design to intervene in the interaction between consumers and on-pack date labelling. The findings showed that although date labels (such as 'Best-before' date and 'Use-by' date) are used as external tools that assist consumers in judging food quality and safety, the lack of the corresponding internal mediation tool on the consumer side, such as confusion on the meaning of different types of labels, conflicts between the usage of labels and consumers' sensory perceptions in food edibility assessment activities, can still lead to potential problems associated with household food waste in consumers' food edibility assessment systems.…”

“…For example, as mentioned in the preceding section, Selvefors et al (2015) concluded that a variety of conflicting motives in people's daily life contexts, such as conflicts between ensuring well-being or reducing effort, on the one hand, and reducing energy consumption, on the other hand, can hinder people from prioritizing energy conservation. In a similar vein, to understand the connection between consumers' usage of on-pack date labels and household food waste issues, Chu et al (2020) investigated tensions and contradictions that consumers encounter when using date labels and sensory perceptions to assess food quality and safety. Theme 2.…”