Effect of five front-of-package nutritional labeling models on time to select food by Brazilians
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2021.59501Keywords:
Food. Food Legislation. Nutrition Labeling, Time, Choice Behavior.Abstract
Objective: to compare the time Brazilian adults required to make food choices with different models of front-of-pack nutrition labeling. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 150 participants, who were instructed to select the healthiest product between two foods, with eight pairs of images presented. One of the products in each pair had warnings (high in sugars, sodium, or saturated fat), evaluated in different formats according to the group in which the individual was allocated: magnifying glass, octagon, circle, triangle, and traffic light. The number of correct answers for the healthiest product in each pair and the time to correctly select of the healthiest product were measured. Results: A lower number of correct answers for the healthier product among the pairs occurred with traffic lights than with any other model (p <0.001), which is also the format in which the longest time was necessary to correctly select the healthiest product (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the other formats. In the individual analysis of the products, the circle performed better, with significantly less time required to make the correct choices in seven of the eight products. Conclusion: To support healthy food choices, any of the tested formats for frontal nutrition labeling are indicated, except for the traffic light. The circle appears to be a good option to reduce consumer’s time to select healthy choices.
Downloads
References
- Machín L, Aschemann-Witzel J, Curutchet MR, Giménez A, Ares G. Does front-of-pack nutrition information improve consumer ability to make healthful choices? Performance of warnings and the traffic light system in a simulated shopping experiment. Appetite. 2018; 121(1):55-62.
- Becker MW, Bello NM, Sundar RP, Peltier C, Bix L. Front of pack labels enhance attention to nutrition information in novel and commercial brands. Food policy. 2015; 56: 76-86.
- Brasil. Ministério da Saúde. Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária. Diretoria Colegiada. Resolução de Diretoria Colegiada RDC nº 429, de 8 de outubro de 2020. Dispõe sobre a rotulagem nutricional dos alimentos embalados. Diário Oficial da União, 09/10/2020, Edição: 195, Seção: 1, Página: 106.
- Deliza R, de Alcántara M, Pereira R, Ares G. How do different warning signs compare with the guideline daily amount and traffic-light system?. Food Quality and Preference. 2020; 80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.103821.
- Brasil. Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária. Gerência-Geral de Alimentos. Relatório de Análise de Impacto Regulatório sobre Rotulagem Nutricional. Brasília: ANVISA, 2018.
- Ares G, Aschemann-Witzel J, Curutchet MR, Antúnez L, Machín L, Vidal L, et al. Product reformulation in the context of nutritional warning labels: Exploration of consumer preferences towards food concepts in three food categories. Food Res Int. 2018; 107: 669-674.
- Helfer P, Shultz TR. The effects of nutrition labeling on consumer food choice: a psychological experiment and computational model. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2014; 1331: 174-85.
- Khandpur N, Mais LA, Sato PM, Martins APB, Spinillo CG, Rojas CFU, et al. Choosing a front-of-package warning label for Brazil: A randomized, controlled comparison of three different label designs. Food Res Int. 2019; 121(1): 854–861.
- Grunert KG, Wills JM, Fernández-Celemín L. Nutrition knowledge, and use and understanding of nutrition information on food labels among consumers in the UK. Appetite. 2010; 55(2):177-89.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP RESPONSIBILITY
Title of the manuscript:
________________________________________________________
1. Statement of responsability
I certify that I have participated in the work above specified and take public responsibility for its content.
I certify that the manuscript represents an original work and that none of the material in the manuscript has been previously published, is included in another manuscript, or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere, whether in printed form or in electronic media, except that described in the attachment.
In case of acceptance of this text by Demetra: Alimentação, Nutrição & Saude, I declare to be in accordance with the policy of public access and copyright adopted by Demetra, which provides as follows: (a) the authors retain the copyright and grant to the Journal the right of first publication, the work being simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows the sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal; (b) authors are authorized to enter additional contracts separately for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, publishing in institutional repository or book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal; and (c) authors are permitted and encouraged to post and distribute their work online (eg, in institutional repositories or on their personal page) at any point before or during the editorial process, as this may lead to productive changes, as well as increase the impact and citation of the published work.
2. Conflict of Interest Statement
I certify that there is no conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.
Date, signature and full address of all authors.
