Comparison of front-of-pack labels to help German consumers understand the nutritional quality of food products
- 13.05.2019
- English Articles
- Manon Egnell
- Zenobia Talati
- Simone Pettigrew
- Pilar Galan
- Serge Hercberg
- Chantal Julia
Peer-reviewed / Manuscript (original contribution) received: January 29, 2019 / Revision accepted: April 01, 2019
Color-coded labels outperform all other systems
Introduction
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent the most important causes of death worldwide, outweighing infectious diseases [1]. In Germany cardiovascular disease and cancers are the two leading causes of death, accounting for 42% and 23% of all deaths respectively among women, and 35% and 29% of all deaths among men [2]. The prevalence of obesity has increased during the last decades [3]: In 2013, 14.3% of women and 17.1% of men were obese [4], an increase of 3.3 percentage points among women and 5.0 percentage points among men compared to data collected in 1999 [5]. The prevalence of adult obesity is currently estimated to range between 16.5% and 23.9% in women and between 17.3% and 23.3% in men [6].
Multifactorial in their origin, nutrition is a common determinant of these NCDs [7]. Yet, dietary behavior is considered as a modifiable factor, yielding an important potential for the prevention of NCDs in the long term [8, 9]. Among the multiple strategies aiming at improving the dietary behavior of populations, some have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as ‘best buys’, yielding high benefits for a reduced cost: taxation of less healthy products, regulation of marketing to children and front-of-pack labelling [8]. Frontof- Pack Labels (FoPLs) aim to enable consumers to make healthier choices at the point of purchase, by simplifying and helping them interpret the detailed nutritional information that is accessible at the back of the pack [8].
Abstract
Front-of-Package labels (FoPLs) provide simplified nutritional information to consumers to help them make healthier food choices. Investigating consumers’ understanding of this information is of major importance. This study compared consumers’ objective understanding of five FoPLs (Health Star Rating System [HSR], Multiple Traffic Lights [MTL], Nutri-Score, Reference Intakes [RIs], warning symbol). In 2018, 1,000 German participants were enrolled in an online survey and asked to rank three sets of products according to their nutritional quality, first in the absence of any labelling, and then with an FoPL displayed on-pack (randomized). Change in ability to correctly rank products was assessed using ordinal logistic regression. For all food categories, the Nutri-Score performed best, followed by the MTL, warning Symbol, HSR and RIs. The Nutri-Score emerged as the most effective FoPL in conveying information on the nutritional quality of foods for German consumers.
Keywords: front-of-pack nutrition label, understanding, German consumers, nutritional policy, food policy, nutrition labelling
