Nutrition information labels lost on consumers

The nutrition labelling system carried on food packaging for over five years is having little impact on consumers' product evaluations, research suggests.

As policy makers consider whether alternative approaches to nutrition labelling could improve diet and cut obesity rates, Massey researchers have sought to evaluate how presenting nutrition information in different formats affects the ability of consumers to recognise healthy and less healthy food profiles.

A marketing PhD student, Ninya Maubach working in conjunction with marketing professor Janet Hoek, carried out an experiment with nearly 300 consumers in Palmerston North, presenting them with breakfast cereal packs carrying nutrition information in three different formats. The findings earned Ms Maubach a student 'best paper' award at the 2008 International Nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference held at the University of Wollongong recently.

Ms Maubach says that although nutrition panels are now mandatory on many food products, she and Professor Hoek were concerned that consumers may not understand much of the information available. The researchers tested two 'front-of-pack' nutrition labels, and compared the performance of these to the currently used information panels.

In some conditions, participants saw a breakfast cereal packet displaying the Traffic Light Label format developed by the British Food Standards Agency, which is favoured by consumer lobbyists in New Zealand and Australia. The Traffic Light Labels (a system not in use in New Zealand) rate fat, sodium and sugar content in food with an eye-catching red, orange or green dot, intended to signal high, medium or low levels of these nutrients in the product.

The other two packs presented for the experiment were a standard control pack and another version of a nutrition information label including the 'Percent Daily Intake' label now voluntarily incorporated on packaging by some manufacturers.

Irrespective of the information format they saw, consumers arrived at similar evaluations when viewing a healthier breakfast cereal. However, those exposed to the Traffic Light Label made more accurate evaluations of the less healthy cereal and were better able to differentiate between the healthy and less healthy options.

Says Ms Maubach: “This is a very important finding, given the need to help consumers identify high fat, sugar and salt food to manage or reduce energy consumption.”