EUFIC’s latest study of European consumer research on nutrition labelling on food was conducted by Professor Klaus Grunert of Aarhus School of Business, Denmark. The review compiles consumer opinions from 58 different European studies carried out since 2003, sourced from industry, academia, retailers, non-governmental organisations, consumer groups and national governments.

Nutrition labelling is becoming an increasingly important tool for providing consumers with information at the point of purchase which enables them to make informed food choices. Although consumers claim to use nutrition labels, there are indications that this is not always the case and that the information is not always understood.

Given the link between diet and health, EUFIC wanted to determine the role that nutrition labelling currently plays in influencing consumers’ purchasing behaviour.

Four major conclusions emerged from this review:

1. There is widespread interest for nutrition information on food packages. Consumers generally understand the link between food and health, and many are interested in using information about the nutritional properties of the food they eat. However, the degree of interest differs between consumers and varies across situations and products. In addition, it can conflict with other interests in food, notably taste, traditional eating, and indulgence. 
   
   
2. Consumers like the idea of simplified front-of-pack information but differ in their liking for the various formats. These include health logos, ‘traffic lights’, GDA-based systems and energy labels. Differences can be related to conflicting preferences for ease of use, being fully informed, and not being pressurised into behaving in a particular way. For example, many consumers like colour coding, but some regard reds and greens on food products as too coercive.
   
   
3. Most consumers understand the most common signposting formats in the sense that they themselves believe that they understand them and they can replay key information presented to them in an experimental situation. 
   
   
4. There is still virtually no insight into how labelling information is, or will be, used in a real world shopping situation, and how it will affect consumers’ dietary patterns.

Professor Klaus Grunert explained to EUFIC “It is interesting that despite the wealth of information available on consumer opinions gathered from surveys, interviews and focus groups, there is an obvious lack of field research that actually records how nutrition information on label influences buying behaviour in a real life shopping environment. Understanding on-pack nutrition information in isolation is very different from understanding what this information means in the context of a weekly shopping excursion or composing a balanced diet.”

More information will be made available about this study following peer-review publication.


For more information

Please refer to Consumer Insights.