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A three‐year consumer research programme, using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, was undertaken to assess whether additional voluntary nutrition information for calories and fat would aid consumers’ ability to use the nutrition information that is given on food packs. A variety of label formats was investigated. The research established that providing information for calories and fat per serving, either separately from the nutrition panel or highlighted within the nutrition panel, and providing Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) for calories and fat helped to make the nutrition information more accessible to consumers. GDAs were felt by consumers to be new and useful information. The research findings were developed into voluntary industry guidelines by an IGD working group consisting of representatives of manufacturers, retailers, consumer organizations, nutrition scientists and government. The guidelines represent best practice for industry.

Nutrition labels are seen as offering the potential to educate consumers about healthy eating and to encourage and enable them to make healthy food choices. This study used verbal protocol analysis, a method new to food choice research, to examine which parts of the nutrition label are currently used by consumers when shopping “normally” and for “healthy” foods. The implications of the findings for nutrition educators are discussed.

Dietary guidelines consistently advocate the reduction of fat in the diet and the food industry has responded by introducing a vast range of reduced fat foods on to the market. However, reduced fat diets are difficult for people to maintain. Nutrition education is at a critical crossroads, such that consumers have received the message to reduce fat in the diet, but are unable or unwilling to comply with this information so that overall health status can be improved. Better understanding of the factors that influence fat intake will help to explain why dietary change is so difficult to sustain. Sensory studies and focus group discussions were conducted with consumers to assess their perceptions, acceptance and preferences for reduced fat products. The results implied that consumers associate reduced fat foods with inferior sensory properties and perceive them with a degree of scepticism and mistrust.

The purpose of this paper is to relate average serving size intake by the Brazilian population and declared serving size, the presence of trans fat and household measure fractioning declared on labels of processed, and ultra-processed food products.

Cross-sectional study that analyzed the food labelling of all processed and ultra-processed food products sold in a supermarket in southern Brazil.

A total of 1,071 processed and ultra-processed food products were analyzed. In 88 per cent of food groups, the average serving size consumed was larger than what was declared on labels. Consumed serving size was up to 9.2 times larger than the declared ones in food products with trans fat among their ingredients list and in false negatives and up to 9.9 times larger in foods with fractioned household measure (p<0.001). The Brazilian population consumes, on average, larger serving sizes than those declared on labels, which may represent a significant intake of trans fats without the consumers’ noticing.

This study has been performed with the use of a national database on food consumption, as well as the information from a large number of processed and ultra-processed food labels marketed in Brazil. This study is also proven to be important and novel, contributing with information as to the manner in which nutrition labelling has been presented to Brazilian consumers, discussing its possible consequences for food choices, intake, and the guarantee of consumer rights.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of visual information cues such as a heart icon vs the calories and fat content on the selection of healthy food in fast-food restaurants (FFRs).

An online survey design providing a fast-food menu was implemented to collect responses from the participants. The survey respondents were recruited from a large South-western university in the USA. The research model was tested using logistic regression.

Data analysis shows that visual information plays a significant role in healthy food selection in FFRs. The authors findings show that the heart icons have a statistically significant effect on food choices, while calories and fat content information did not affect the participants’ selections vs no information.

Dietary choices and obesity are a serious social concern. This study provides support for the effect of a heart icon symbol on food choice in fast-food selection. The implication is that labelling FFR menus with symbols such as our heart icon will have a positive impact on healthy food selection vs the more usual inclusion of calorie and fat information.

This chapter addresses how small businesses resist city regulations by using material things, by making craft knowledge claims about material things, and by letting material things organize their political activity. Chefs successfully resisted a foie gras ban in Chicago, where political resistance shaped the production and use of material things. Bakers successfully resisted a trans fat ban in Philadelphia, where material properties of things structured political resistance. We bring together analytic tools from the sociology of culture and science and technology studies to demonstrate how materiality can be both an instigator and an instrument of legal and political resistance.

Just a cursory glance at some food packages around the world, including the UK, and some of the recent recommendations about food labelling, really do make you wonder for whom the labelling is intended. I have always worked on the assumption that the nutrition information on packets was for those men and women who were interested in what their food contained. It is not intended for trained dietitians or professors of nutrition, not for enforcement authorities. Neither is it intended for idiots.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influences of consumer perceptions of labelled information and sensory attributes on consumers’ intention to buy fresh milk.

An experiment was conducted on 117 consumers in a lab at a university. After closely inspecting the labels’ information and tasting two types of milk, participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire, using the direct interview method. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were applied to analyse the data.

The results show that products’ labelled information and the sensory perceptions increase the buying intention of both ultra-high temperature treated fresh milk (UFM) and pasteurised fresh milk (PFM). The sensory perceptions of PFM can mediate the relationship between products’ labels and consumer buying intentions, but this relationship is not true for UFM. According to our results, nutritional facts and taking responsibility for one’s health are the keys to fresh milk commercialisation in terms of higher relative weights and commonness.

Although the sensory aspects of milk have been rigorously evaluated in the food science literature, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, few studies have focussed on the sensory perceptions of fresh milk incorporating process categories (UFM and PFM) and their mediating effect between labelled information and buying intention in the social sciences. The study is pioneering in that it investigates the perceptions of sensory attributes affecting consumer purchasing decisions for fresh milk in an emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the socio‐demographic and health variables of a representative sample of Croatian subjects over 15 years of age associated with reading nutrition labels and, in particular, to examine the association of age characteristics of “label users” with nutrition reading habits.

A total of 1,011 randomly selected subjects over 15 years of age were interviewed by telephone. Moreover, 638 “label users” were recruited for assessing nutrition label habits.

Of the subjects, 36 per cent claimed that they had never, 25 per cent rarely, 19 per cent always and 15 per cent sometimes read nutrition labels. Females, participants with the highest levels of education, still undergoing education, physically active and on special diets claimed that they were more likely to read nutrition labels. Among “label users”, younger participants mentioned “curiosity” as the most important reason for reading nutrition labels, while older participants more often pointed out “wish for healthy eating habits”. “Interpretational aids” were often mentioned among younger participants for easier understanding of nutritional information, while older participants requested “bigger letter size”.

The present study provides a starting point for establishing nutrition education targeted at specific groups of consumers. Research is limited to the subject's self‐reported nutrition label reading. Future research is needed to explore the differences between “label users” and “’non‐users”.

As the study showed, a notable difference exists between younger and older subjects regarding nutrition habits that could help experts toward effective communication. Nevertheless, the study could fill the research gaps in nutrition reading habits of specific groups of consumers in European countries, other than northern Europe.

This study aims to determine the effects of nutrition knowledge on the use of nutrition facts labels in emerging adults by defining the nutrition education status.

For this cross-sectional study, 919 young adults, aged 18–24 years, were recruited. Participants trained by dietetic professional at least 2 h per week during the period of at least one education period were considered as having nutrition education. Food label use, specific circumstances and different food products were recorded. The participants were also asked about their attitudes regarding food label use with a questionnaire including 15 products.

Nutrition facts label is mainly used when buying a product for the first time, a product of an unknown brand or comparing different companies’ similar products, regardless of nutrition education status. Participants with nutrition education had a higher nutrition facts label use and they use the score for specific food products including breakfast cereal (p = 0.003), snacks (p < 0.001), beverages (p = 0.004), ready to eat soups (p = 0.004) and diet products for special occasions (p < 0.001). Mean total score of attitudes regarding food label use for participants who had nutrition education was found as 58.9 ± 6.1 and who did not have nutrition education was found as 51.7 ± 9.2 (p < 0.01).

Nutrition education, which is related to the nutrition facts label use, would be especially useful in helping people for the selection of healthier foods. As habits acquired from childhood will last for a lifetime, more effective nutrition education programs and nutrition label reading education programs should be designed. The findings need to be considered for promoting nutrition facts label use by developing nutrition education.