Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Franco Arellano, Beatriz

Titel

Nutrition Claims and Symbols on Food Packages: Examination of Current Practices to Monitor and Inform Food Policy

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Many governments and health-oriented organizations have stressed the need to implement strategies to encourage healthier diets. Nutrition labelling (i.e., description intended to inform about the nutritional properties/ingredients of a food) is one of those strategies. In Canada, food labels are required to display nutrient declarations (i.e., Nutrition Facts table [NFt]) and ingredients lists since 2003. Food labels could also display voluntary nutrition claims, which are representations that imply a food has certain nutritional properties. In Canada, new nutrition policies and guidelines have been recently issued. For example, new nutrition claims were approved between 2010-2013, and front-of-pack labelling (i.e., supplementary nutrition information displayed on the front of food labels) was proposed in 2018 to highlight foods and beverages with high levels of sodium, saturated fat and/or sugars. However, few studies have assessed how have these changes impacted the packaged food supply and consumers’ perceptions of foods. This research assessed trends in the use of nutrition claims on food labels, examined the nutritional quality of products with and without nutrition claims, and examined the influence of nutrition claims, health-related messages and front-of-pack labelling on consumers’ perceptions. Nutrition claims continue to be displayed on nearly half of packaged foods. While products with nutrition claims have a healthier profile than those without; 42% of products displaying nutrition claims were considered not eligible to carry claims (i.e., “less healthy”), as determined by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion. Consumer studies revealed that most consumers based their product judgement using the information presented on the front of labels, and very few viewed the NFt. Front-of-pack labelling had a stronger influence than nutrition claims among consumers with different levels of health literacy, and despite the ‘halo’ effect created by claims. Importantly, the use of the NFt limited the influence that nutrition claims have on consumers’ perceptions. These studies suggest that front-of-pack labelling could be the nutrition labelling component that better helps consumers to discriminate products with different nutritional quality, and highlight the importance of implementing nutrition labelling policies that support fast healthy food choice.