The combined effect of front-of-pack nutrition labels and health claims on consumers’ evaluation of food products

The majority of studies examining the effect of nutrition information on food packets (such as the nutrition information panel (NIP), front-of-pack labels (FoPLs) and health claims) have examined each in isolation, even though they often occur together. This study investigated the relationship between FoPLs and health claims since (i) they both appear on the front of packs and typically receive more attention from consumers than the NIP, (ii) they can convey contradictory messages (i.e., health claims provide information on nutrients that are beneficial to health while FoPLs provide information on nutrients associated with increased health risks) and (iii) there is currently scant research on how consumers trade off between these two sources of information. Ten focus groups (n = 85) explored adults’ and children’s reactions when presented with both a FoPL (the Daily Intake Guide, Multiple Traffic Lights, or the Health Star Rating) and a health claim (nutrient content, general-level-, or high-level). A particular focus was participants’ processing of discrepant information. Participants reported that health claims were more likely to be considered during product evaluations if they were perceived to be trustworthy, relevant and informative. Trust and ease of interpretation were most important for FoPLs, which were more likely than health claims to meet criteria and be considered during product evaluation (especially the Health Star Rating and Multiple Traffic Lights). Results indicate that consumers generally find FoPLs more useful than health claims.     

Consumers’ perceptions of organic food attributes and cognitive and affective attitudes as determinants of their purchase intentions toward organic food

The current study investigates how consumers perceive organic food attributes, which in turn influence their utilitarian and hedonic attitudes and intentions to purchase organic food. Specifically, consumers’ perceptions of nutritional content, ecological welfare, and price attributes of organic food have strong effects on utilitarian attitudes as well as hedonic attitudes toward buying organic food, while perceptions of the sensory appeal attribute have a strong effect on hedonic attitudes. Interestingly, consumers’ perceptions of the natural content attribute of organic food are not a significant determinant of the two dimensions of attitude. Lastly, utilitarian and hedonic attitudes play an important and influential role in determining behavioral intentions to purchase organic food. This study raises questions about the lack of a theoretical framework in previous organic food studies. Therefore, a modified S–O–R model is applied to provide theoretical support for organic food research. In addition, this study employs a bi-dimensional approach to attitudes (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic attitudes), contributing to a better understanding of consumers’ expectations and perceptions in their behaviors regarding organic food.     

Social-psychological determinants of young consumers’ consumption of pork

In order to achieve a better understanding of young consumers’ deselection of pork, the objective of the present study was to get insight into the influence of attitudes, perceived social norms, abilities, and other psychological factors on pork consumption among young consumers in Denmark and Sweden. Using data collected through questionnaire surveys within a Theory of Planned Behavior framework the study explored the extent to which different psychological factors influence young consumers’ intention to buy and consume pork. Multi-group structural equation modelling revealed that young Danish and Swedish consumers’ intention to buy pork and consumption of pork were primarily influenced by attitudes and habit strength, while social norms and perceived abilities played a minor role. The results further indicated that especially concerns about animals and the environment had a negative impact on attitudes towards pork. The results suggest that actors within the pork meat industry need to focus on both the attitudinal and habitual qualities in order to make effective strategies for food behavior change interventions.     

The congruence effect of food shape and name typeface on consumers’ food preferences

Both food image and name are important in advertising and packaging, which means that identifying their effects on consumer preferences is of both conceptual and managerial importance. However, although an increasing body of research currently focuses on the impact of food attributes on consumers, whether the sensory correspondences between food shape and name typeface affect consumer reactions is an under-researched topic. This paper thus comprises five studies to demonstrate the congruence effect between food shape and name typeface, whereby consumers prefer foods with a round (angular) shape that are labeled with a round (angular) name typeface. This shape–typeface congruence effect is driven by the psychological mechanism of processing fluency, which derives from the sensory correspondences between food shape and name typeface. Finally, this study identifies an important boundary condition of the congruence effect, confirming it affects only the consumer response to hedonic and not utilitarian goods. Using multiple foods and typefaces, the findings provide significant implications for processing fluency, sensory correspondences, and food marketing.     

Cannabis-infused food and Canadian consumers’ willingness to consider “recreational” cannabis as a food ingredient

At the time of this study, the Canadian government intends to legalize the use of recreational cannabis. Despite its intentions, the regulatory framework remains ambiguous. Food businesses, with their constant search for growth, are considering launching several food products with cannabis as an ingredient, once the drug is legalized. This study does not look at the health effects of cannabis per se, but rather consumers’ perception of cannabis as a food ingredient through the lens of food innovation, if it were to be legalized. It explores several dimensions, including cannabis-infused food products sold in grocery stores and dishes served at restaurants. It evaluates potential times when consumers would consume these products, in addition to their preferred food products. The survey also looks at perceived risks related to specific demographics such as children and pregnant women. The survey assesses both perceived risks and anticipated behaviour in a market in which a former illicit product becomes readily available.The results show that Canadians, although mostly favourable to cannabis's legalization and willing to try cannabis-infused food products, are concerned about health risks the drug represents, especially for young children. Results also suggest that most Canadians do not feel knowledgeable enough to cook with cannabis at home, which opens an opportunity for leaders in the industry. Finally, the study presents limitations and suggested future paths for research.     

Developments in food processing and increasing gaps in consumers competence of food handling––the challenge for nutrition policy in Europe

Human evolution is accompanied by innovations in food processing. The results are remarkable: there is food security, as there is surplus on cheap, safe and high quality food. Despite this situation nutritional studies reveal that there are still nutritional problems in the world. Food security is only a precondition but no guarantee for nutrition security.The causes of nutritional problems are complex. In industrialised societies the importance of the last links of the food chain, being the competence of consumers regarding food and nutrition, is ignored. Whereas the global knowledge on food processing is increasing continuously, a reverse trend regarding consumer competence can be observed. The consequences of these trends have to be observed and studied. People with less food and nutrition competence are susceptible to disorientation and misguided behaviour. It is likely that the trend accelerates since the traditional ways to learn food and nutrition competence are diminishing; even in the case of food professionals, like cooks or bakers, there is clear evidence of lack of practical experiences.Nutrition and food policy has to focus on this gap. The most important nutritional problems are no longer those of food quality, but related to consumer behaviour. Today’s consumers need high qualification to use all the opportunities to manage the everyday tasks. Without fostering such training (not only for the general population, but also for food professionals) we in Europe are in danger of becoming a food illiterate population.     

Extrinsic and intrinsic quality cues in Chinese consumers’ purchase of pork ribs

Due to the ongoing changes from traditional open markets to Western style supermarkets in China, Chinese consumers have the opportunity to base their decisions increasingly on extrinsic quality cues like brand, safety certification and origin, in addition to the traditional intrinsic quality cues like color and fat. This study investigates choice of fresh pork by Chinese consumers employing a pairwise choice methodology. Latent class analysis shows that for the majority of consumers intrinsic cues are still dominating the choice, and only for a small segment did information on brand, origin and quality certification have a major role. Also, there was a segment of consumers that did seem to make random choices. The results indicate that Chinese consumers are still in a transitory phase, where they are building up competencies in handling product information while the sector struggles to build credibility and trust.     

Diagonal or vertical? An empirical study of the impact of food brand logo orientation on consumers’ food perception and food attitude

This study explores the role of food brand logo orientation on consumers’ perceptions and attitudes regarding food products through four studies. Study 1 examines the effects of food brand logo orientation (diagonal vs. vertical) on consumer perceptions of food tastiness and risk. The findings suggest that diagonal (vs. vertical) food brand logos result in higher (lower) taste and risk perception in branded food. Study 2 reveals the underlying mechanisms of this effect by introducing perceived movement as a mediator between logo orientation and food perception. The results support the inference that movement is an underlying mechanism for the effect. Study 3 examines the effects of brand logo orientation and regulatory focus on consumer attitudes regarding branded food. The results suggest that for consumers with a promotion focus, a diagonal (vs. vertical) oriented logo leads to a more favorable attitude toward the food. For consumers with a prevention focus, a diagonal (vs. vertical) oriented logo leads to a less favorable attitude toward the food. Study 4 establishes validity of the above findings regarding native English speakers.     

An integrated framework to explain consumers’ purchase intentions toward green food in the Chinese context

The present study aims to explore an appropriate framework for explaining consumers’ purchase intentions toward green food in the Chinese context. An integrated green food purchase intention (IGFPI) model was designed based on various cognitive and affective variables extracted from the amended theory of planned behavior (A-TPB) and modified stimulus-organism-response (M-SOR) models. An online survey was conducted among Chinese consumers with 1,412 usable responses. Research data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to evaluate the strength of the relationship between constructs and compare the model fit among three models (i.e., A-TPB, M-SOR, and IGFPI). The findings reveal that three models present reasonable fit and the IGFPI model provides a better explanatory power than the other two independent models. In summarizing the results of hypotheses tests among the three models, the variables of perceived behavioral control, face consciousness, group conformity, utilitarian and hedonic attitudes have significant effects on purchase intentions toward green food. Consumers’ perceptions of nutritional content and price attributes of green food have strong effects on utilitarian attitudes, while the sensory appeal and price attributes strongly influence hedonic attitudes. Interestingly, the strength of the association between confidence, personal characteristics and purchase intention, as well as between ecological welfare and utilitarian attitudes vary within the independent and integrated models respectively. This study provides insight for stakeholders and future research in better understanding the framework and factors that influence purchase intentions of consumers toward green food products in the Chinese context.     

The silver sensory experience – A review of senior consumers’ food perception,liking and intake

It is commonly assumed that sensory impairments occurring with age negatively affect older people’s intake of foods in terms of both quality and quantity. This review discusses evidence published on the effects of age on sensory perception and the consequences for independently living seniors’ perception, liking and intake of food products. Because of anatomical changes in all the senses involved in human food perception, on average seniors perceive a lower flavour intensity than younger adults, are less sensitive to changes in the flavour profile of foods, and show a decreased ability to discriminate between different intensity levels of flavour and/or taste attributes. However, despite these differences in their sensory perception of foods, young adults and seniors seem to differ less in their initial hedonic appraisal of food products. Nonetheless, more research is needed to determine whether multisensory enrichment of foods across different modalities may lead to increased food liking in seniors both with and without olfactory impairment. Although limited, the current evidence suggests that sensory performance may be positively associated with BMI or body weight in specific senior populations. In addition, seniors fail to show a decreased appreciation of an eaten food, thereby increasing the risk of a monotonous diet. Taken together, these findings highlight the need for appropriate interventions and/or foods to improve and maintain adequate quantity and quality of food intake among independently living seniors, and especially those with low sensory performance. Such interventions should be holistic rather than focused on one modality and may also incorporate hedonic modulators such as past experiences, affective factors and external cues, e.g. brand names, labels or food packaging. In interventions and product development, segmentation of the senior consumer market is strongly advised to identify more homogeneous subgroups in order to deal with the large heterogeneity between independently living seniors. It is concluded that one size of the silver food experience will most likely not fit all senior consumers!     

Decreasing consumers’ risk perception of food additives by knowledge enhancement in China

Food safety issues have occurred frequently in China in recent years, which results in consumers’ high risk perception of food additives. In the present research, we examined whether knowledge would decrease Chinese consumers’ risk perception of food additives under the influence of food safety issues’ risk perception; we also investigated how information selection impacted popularization effectiveness. Study 1 demonstrated that risk perception of food safety issues was positively correlated with risk perception of food additives. In addition, with increased risk perception of food safety issues, the higher level of knowledge weakened the influence of risk perception of food safety issues on risk perception of food additives. In Study 2, we proposed a consumer-risk-focused approach of knowledge popularization related to food additives, based on consumers’ cognitive rules and concerns. We compared its popularization effectiveness with the comprehensive-knowledge-based approach at three time points. We found that the consumer-risk-focused approach significantly promoted the effectiveness of popularization, including increasing knowledge accuracy and trust, and decreasing risk perception. The present study provides evidence that risk perception of food safety issues leads to biased judgments and perceptions concerning food additives, but knowledge acts as a buffering function in this biased relationship. In addition, in terms of practical application, this study contributes to improving the effectiveness of knowledge popularization about food additives.     

The impact of tablecloth on consumers’ food perception in real-life eating situation

It has been known that contextual factors, such as atmospherics, can influence consumers’ perception of food and the overall consumption experience. This study aimed to investigate the influence of table linen on food perception. A total of 247 participants were provided meals with different table linens, either fabric or paper linen, in a real restaurant setting. The results demonstrated a fabric table linen contributed to a significant higher preference of the appetiser, first course consumed upon arrival, and of the meal quality in general. The fabric linen had no significant impact on the liking of the main dish and dessert, which were preferred similarly to that of paper table linen. However, a better service, ambiance and overall experience at the restaurant were attributed to the fabric table linen. Regarding the meal environmental elements, three quarters of the participants considered the table linen as an important element when they were eating at the restaurant. These results therefore demonstrate the importance of the table linen on consumers’ perception of food.     

Nutri-Score,multiple traffic light and incomplete nutrition labelling on food packages: Effects on consumers’ accuracy in identifying healthier snack options

Front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels are designed to help consumers evaluate the healthiness of foods and to promote healthier food choices. In this study, an online experiment with Swiss consumers (N = 1313) was conducted to compare the effects of different nutrition label formats on consumers’ evaluations of snack food healthiness. Participants were asked to select the healthier option in 105 pairwise comparisons of 15 salty snacks. The participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: the FOP presented with (1) the nutrition facts table, (2) the multiple traffic light (MTL), (3) the Nutri-Score, (4) the Nutri-Score on half of the products, or (5) no nutrition information (control). The consumers’ evaluations of the snacks’ healthiness were fairly accurate, even without being given nutrition information on the packaging. The Nutri-Score led to the greatest accuracy in identifying the healthier of two snacks (when using the British FSA/Ofcom nutrient profiling score to determine product healthiness); however, this had only a minimal effect on the evaluation when only some of the products were labelled. Both FOP labels were superior to the FOP with and without the nutrition facts. This indicates that for maximum effectiveness, the labelling of all available products is needed. The perceived usefulness and public support of mandatory implementation were higher for the MTL than for the Nutri-Score label; however, for the latter, perceived usefulness and public acceptance were higher among the participants who became familiar with the label during the experiment than among those who did not.     

Comparison of food values for consumers’ preferences on imported fruits and vegetables within Japan,Taiwan, and Indonesia

International agricultural trade in fruits and vegetables has received much attention as an effective method to create a sustainable agriculture industry for a country. This study focuses on consumers’ perceptions of food values toward imported fruits and vegetables in Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia by using the Best-Worst Scaling method. Seven food values were examined in this study: labeling product origin, food safety certification, high quality appearance, domestic rarity, price, how the product was grown, and freshness. An online survey was conducted and 1,350 total valid respondents were collected (500 Japanese, 333 Taiwanese, and 517 Indonesian). The Latent Class Multinomial Logit model was used to analyze consumers for each country. Results revealed that food safety certification and freshness were found as the most important and second most important food values for the majority group of consumers in each of these three countries, respectively. However, the remainder of food values do not have the same importance for each country. The study should help governments and international marketers enhance their agricultural trade policies and marketing strategies for these targeted markets.     

Cognitive dissonance in food and nutrition–A review

The study of cognitive dissonance in food and nutrition has been relatively under-developed. This review paper looks at food and/or food-related studies that have utilized cognitive dissonance as a primary construct in a priori theorization and hypothesis-formulation, examining the ways in which the dissonance construct has been used and its corresponding effects on various food-related outcomes in those studies. Current gaps and critical issues underlying cognitive dissonance investigation in food and nutrition research are also identified and discussed.     

α-Dicarbonyl compounds in food products: Comprehensively understanding their occurrence,analysis, and control

α-Dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) are readily produced during the heating and storage of foods, mainly through the Maillard reaction, caramelization, lipid-peroxidation, and enzymatic reaction. They contribute to both the organoleptic properties (i.e., aroma, taste, and color) and deterioration of foods and are potential indicators of food quality. α-DCs are also important precursors to hazardous substances, such as acrylamide, furan, advanced lipoxidation end products, and advanced glycation end products, which are genotoxic, neurotoxic, and linked to several diseases. Recent studies have indicated that dietary α-DCs can elevate plasma α-DC levels and lead to “dicarbonyl stress.” To accurately assess their health risks, quantifying α-DCs in food products is crucial. Considering their low volatility, inability to absorb ultraviolet light, and high reactivity, the analysis of α-DCs in complex food systems is a challenge. In this review, we comprehensively cover the development of scientific approaches, from extraction, enrichment, and derivatization, to sophisticated detection techniques, which are necessary for quantifying α-DCs in different foods. Exposure to α-DCs is inevitable because they exist in most foods. Recently, novel strategies for reducing α-DC levels in foods have become a hot research topic. These strategies include the use of new processing technologies, formula modification, and supplementation with α-DC scavengers (e.g., phenolic compounds). For each strategy, it is important to consider the potential mechanisms underlying the formation and removal of process contaminants. Future studies are needed to develop techniques to control α-DC formation during food processing, and standardized approaches are needed to quantify and compare α-DCs in different foods.     

Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations

With the developing world increasingly exposed to severe shocks and stresses, a growing number of international development agencies have now adopted resilience building as a critical long-term objective for their programmes. This paper explores the potential for this concept in the context of food security and nutrition but the reflection extends to development interventions more generally. Resilience is a rich concept, and has at its core the notion of complex dynamic processes that aptly describes the nature and dynamics of vulnerability and changes as they affect the developing world. The paper argues that the main value of resilience lies in its integrative nature, which facilitates greater collaboration between traditionally disparate groups and communities of practices. The paper also stresses some of the key conceptual and practical challenges that we face when trying to operationalise and measure resilience.