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| Vendredi 26 Septembre 2008 | 11:24 |
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Infos Société
One in four UK consumers look for nutrition information on food labels
New study reveals high awareness and good understanding of nutrition labelling schemes in the UK but a lower use of labels in supermarkets
Despite UK shoppers being six times more likely to look at the front rather than the back of pack and 80% being aware of Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) and Traffic Light (TL) labelling schemes, new research from the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) shows that only one in four shoppers actually looked for nutrition information on food packaging in supermarkets.
The research, conducted in three UK supermarket chains with different labelling schemes (ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Tesco), offers insight into how this information is used in real life shopping situations and is the first part of a broader study in six EU countries .
Consumers’ nutrition knowledge has areas of strength and weakness; for example more than 90% correctly know that they should eat more fruit and vegetables, fibre and whole grains. In contrast, starchy foods such as bread, rice, pasta and potatoes are less understood, with only 5% of consumers correctly answering that they should eat a lot of these types of foods.
Consumers see calories as a hurdle that is difficult to overcome. Although the calorific content of foods is generally understood, calorie needs are under-estimated while the amount of physical activity required to burn off calories is over-estimated by the majority of consumers. Of concern is that 35% of consumers think children need more calories than an adult man, raising public health questions about over-feeding with respect to childhood obesity.
UK consumers spend on average 25 seconds in making a food product purchase decision. The type of product being purchased has an impact:; most time is spent looking at ready-meals and least time is spent on carbonated soft drinks.
Awareness is high for both Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) and Traffic Light (TL) labelling systems. 79% of the consumers have heard of GDAs and TLs while 90% of consumers say they have seen the GDA system before. Understanding of the GDA concept is good, with 89% of consumers correctly defining a guideline daily amount as a maximum rather than a target to reach. The answers reflect good understanding of absolute numbers, percentages, and guideline daily amounts.
Understanding of the Traffic Light concept is characterised by some exaggeration of the meaning of the colours and a lack of understanding that the system is applied per 100g. 73% of consumers thought red indicated avoidance rather than correctly answering that “it is fine to have the product occasionally or as a treat.”
For the hybrid Guideline Daily Amount/Traffic Light system, less than 15% of consumers stated that the colour-coding and interpretive elements (high, medium, low) were helpful for indicating healthiness of a food product.
More than 70% of consumers could rank products correctly in terms of healthiness regardless of labelling system. The ability to answer correctly was related to age, nutritional knowledge, social grade – but even in the lowest group around half of the respondents could provide the correct answer.
Listen to the findings
The results are part of a broader pan-European study that is nearing completion. To listen to Professor Klaus Grunert of Aarhus School of Business, Denmark and Dr Josephine Wills, Director General of EUFIC, presenting the UK results, please go to:
www.eufic.org/block/en/show/consumer-insights
Contact:
Laura Smillie, Communications Manager, European Food Information Council
Direct telephone: +32 2 506 89 85 / +32 474 94 01 98 (mobile)
e-mail: media@eufic.org
www.eufic.org
Background fact sheet on EUFIC
About EUFIC
The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) is a non-profit organisation that provides science-based information on food and food-related topics to the media, health and nutrition professionals, educators, and opinion leaders. EUFIC is supported by companies from the European food and drinks industries, with some funding from the European Commission.
EUFIC's goal is to enhance the public's understanding of nutrition and food safety; thus contributing to raising consumers' awareness of the active role they play in safe food handling and choosing a well-balanced, healthy diet.
About the EUFIC research
The research has been conducted as part of EUFIC’s commitment to the European Commission’s EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity & Health.
• Total sample size 2019 across three retailers with 921 returned, completed in-home questionnaires.
• The study was incentivised, with a combination of in-store observation in six product categories (salty snacks, soft drinks, yoghurts, breakfast cereals, ready meals, confectionery) and interview, with a longer self-complete questionnaire filled in at home.
• Three types of front of pack nutrition labelling schemes were tested: Guideline Daily Amounts, Traffic Lights & GDA/TL Hybrid
• During the research design phase, the methodology was shared with key interest groups including academic public health experts and leading NGO representatives.
Dr Josephine Wills
Director General, European Food Information Council, Brussels, Belgium.
Having qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1981, Jo spent several years in veterinary practice and earned her PhD from the University of Bristol Veterinary School, in 1986.
After several years postdoctoral research at the University of Manchester Medical School, she joined the company Mars, where she worked in science, communication, and regulatory roles for 18 years, latterly as European Head of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for all product categories.
In January 2006, Jo was appointed to Director General of the European Food Information Council, based in Brussels.
Jo has published over 80 scientific papers, edited four books and lectured extensively worldwide.
Professor Klaus G. Grunert
Professor of Marketing at the Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, and founder and director of MAPP - Center for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector.
Klaus has done extensive research in the areas of consumer quality perception and food choice, public acceptance of biotechnology and especially genetic modification, on how insight into consumer behaviour feeds into product development processes in food producing companies, and on competence development in the food industry.
As director of MAPP, he has carried out more than 50 collaboration projects with the food industry, including several pan-European studies. He is the author of 12 books, 82 academic papers in international refereed journals and numerous other publications.
Klaus G. Grunert is a past president of the European Marketing Academy, holds a part-time position as Professor of Fisheries Marketing at the University of Tromsø in Norway and is professor of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management.
Contact
| Nom: Laura Smillie |
| E-mail : media@eufic.org |
| Web : http://www.eufic.org |
| Société : EUFIC-European Food Information Council |
| Adresse : - Brussels |
| Pays : BELGIUM |
| Téléphone : +32 2 506 89 85 |
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