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Article
Publication date: 8 June 2012

Dan Petrovici, Andrew Fearne, Rodolfo M. Nayga and Dimitris Drolias

The primary purpose is to examine the factors that affect the use of nutritional facts, nutrient content claims and health claims on food label use in the United Kingdom.

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Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose is to examine the factors that affect the use of nutritional facts, nutrient content claims and health claims on food label use in the United Kingdom.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports the results of a survey of over 300 face‐to‐face interviews with shoppers of Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury – three of the major supermarkets in the UK.

Findings

Product class involvement factors, individual characteristics, health‐related factors (nutritional knowledge, health locus of control, perceived need of dietary change), situational, attitudinal and behavioral factors were found to be significant factors affecting the use of nutritional information and nutritional and health claims on food labeling. While the use of nutritional information and health claims increases with the stated importance of “nutrition” and “family preferences”, it is less likely among shoppers for whom “taste” is an important driver of food purchasing behaviour. There is also evidence of mistrust in health claims, as indicated by the negative relationship between the consideration of such claims and the stated importance of “quality” and perceived need to “change dietary quality” – the more discerning shoppers are the least likely to consider health claims.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence that a wider range of product class involvement factors is necessary to predict the use of nutritional information and nutritional and health claims on food labeling. It also offers a conceptualization of health‐related factors to include health locus of control as a predictor of the acquisition of nutrition and health information.

Article
Publication date: 3 May 2011

Torben Hansen, Ashesh Mukherjee and Thyra Uth Thomsen

This paper aims to investigate the effect of anxiety on information search during food choice and to test a key moderator of the effect of anxiety on search, namely attitude…

2305

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the effect of anxiety on information search during food choice and to test a key moderator of the effect of anxiety on search, namely attitude towards nutritional claims.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of qualitative study the paper investigates the notion that consumers experience anxiety about health outcomes during food choice. Further, by means of structural equation modelling based on two studies with representative samples of Danish consumers, the paper investigates the effects outlined above.

Findings

The authors show that anxiety during food choice increases information search in four product categories – ready dinner meals, salad dressing, biscuits, and cakes. Further, the results show that the positive effect of anxiety on information search is stronger when consumers have a less favourable attitude towards nutritional claims on the product label.

Practical implications

The results suggest that anxiety during food choice is desirable from the consumer welfare point of view since it leads to more informed consumers. The results also indicate that public policy makers should educate consumers to be critical about nutritional claims, since this would increase consumers' propensity to search for health information. In turn, from a managerial point of view this suggests that providers of healthy food should provide extended health information for consumers that are sceptical about nutritional claims since their scepticism towards this type of condensed information will in fact motivate extended information search.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to research in marketing on food choice and consumption: a consumption area that is important but difficult to navigate due to an increasing complexity of nutritional information at the point of sale. This paper demonstrates that situational, choice‐based anxiety and scepticism towards nutritional claims may actually be good things by prompting consumers to undertake search, and hence ultimately make more informed choices.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 July 2021

Asuncion Hernandez-Fernandez, Ines Kuster-Boluda and Natalia Vila-Lopez

Rates of diseases caused by poor diet have seen no reduction in recent years. In this scenario, nutritional information labels and health claims could play a decisive role in…

Abstract

Purpose

Rates of diseases caused by poor diet have seen no reduction in recent years. In this scenario, nutritional information labels and health claims could play a decisive role in modifying product attitudes and purchase intention (consequently, eating habits). In this frame, the first objective is to analyze the role of three antecedents on attitudes toward nutritional labels and credibility from health claims. These three starting antecedents are as follows: psychological characteristics of the consumer associated with eating disorders, body image attitudes and affective reactions (pleasure and arousal). Second, this paper aims to analyze if both elements (attitudes toward nutritional labels and credibility from health claims) improve (or not) food product attitudes and then, its purchase intention.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample comprised 300 young people between 18 and 25 years old. They provided their opinion about a healthy product by completing a structured and personal questionnaire after inspecting the packaging. Path analysis with partial least squares (PLS) was carried out to test the hypotheses stated.

Findings

First, psychological characteristics associated with eating disorders (self-concept and self-esteem) have a positive significant influence on body image attitudes. Second, attitudes toward their body image have a great effect on the perception that these consumers have about the information provided by healthy food packaging. Insofar as those whose attitudes toward their body image is “damaged” seek in the nutritional label indications that make them feel calm understanding that the food they are going to buy is not harmful to their health. Moreover, credibility from health claims improves positive attitudes toward the nutritional label. On the contrary, those consumers with higher punctuations in body image assigned lower values to those items concerning nutritional information and health claims in the packaging. Third, if attitudes to nutritional information improve, then product attitudes improve too. Fourth, if product attitudes improve, then purchase intention improves too. So, food product managers should be aware of the need to improve product attitudes by working on the packaging (label and claim) to improve purchase intention.

Originality/value

First, although previous literature has investigated individual psychological characteristics related to food disorders in the health area, the study of these specific individual psychological characteristics (ineffectiveness, perfectionism, interpersonal distrust, interceptive awareness, maturity fears), is under-researched in the marketing discipline. Second, to date, different authors have investigated how important the use of credibility from health claims in packaging can be in terms of increasing product attitudes and purchase intention, as well as the development of positive attitudes toward nutritional information on the label. However, the joint study of both information sources in the packaging (credibility from health claims and attitudes toward nutritional labels) remains under-investigated.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Stephen L. Baglione, Louis A. Tucci and John L. Stanton

The purpose of this study is to determine whether reported nutritional knowledge and the acceptance of benefit claims for a fresh produce item is related to changes in preference…

1902

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether reported nutritional knowledge and the acceptance of benefit claims for a fresh produce item is related to changes in preference in order to provide food marketers insight and guidance into giving consumers more information to change beliefs and preferences, using health‐benefit claims to position their brands as offering ingredients, e.g. Lycopene which may prevent serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample was drawn from an internet panel maintained by Markettools, Inc, a respected market research company in the USA. A total of 594 respondents were surveyed. Besides demographic questions, respondents were asked about their knowledge of nine nutrients. Basic nutrient knowledge was estimated through a one‐sample t‐test tested against a value of two on a 1‐4 scale. Respondents evaluated eight benefit statements regarding the health benefits of mushrooms. After reading each statement, respondents indicated their likelihood of purchasing fresh mushrooms and were asked about the believability, favorability, and uniqueness of each statement.

Findings

The results indicate that health‐related food benefit claims are better accepted by female respondents who claim to be nutritionally knowledgeable and who are older. Three hypotheses related to nutritional knowledge and beliefs showed that knowledge and beliefs have an effect but the effect varied by nutrient and nutrient cluster. In particular, knowledge of esoteric nutrients such as Pantothenic Acid was associated with acceptance of health‐related claims.

Practical implications

Food marketers are spending millions of dollars/pounds/euros on informing people of the nutrient content and health benefits of their foods. However, this money can be better spent if one first understands the existing levels of nutritional knowledge and the specific nutrients that motivate change in preference or buying intention.

Originality/value

This paper builds on the existing body of knowledge using additional statistical techniques to cluster nutrients and to provide a demonstration on a fresh produce food group not currently investigated in the literature. It suggests that food marketers need to gather more information on their consumers to target their health and nutrition message to the proper (more receptive) audience.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 114 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2016

Ilija Djekic and Nada Smigic

– This paper aims to present results from a research that analyzed the quality of labels available in the Serbian food market and consumers’ attitudes toward food labels.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present results from a research that analyzed the quality of labels available in the Serbian food market and consumers’ attitudes toward food labels.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 899 food labels have been analyzed in relation to the presence of legally required information, their readability to average consumer and presence of nutritional/health claims and/or nutritional information. In parallel, 400 respondents were interviewed in the survey of consumers’ attitudes regarding labels.

Findings

Results revealed that 38.2 per cent of food products hold labels that are not fully readable to average consumers. Regarding basic label information, 11 per cent of foods have missing information in terms of series/lot identification. The majority of the products (87.4 per cent) have only basic nutritional information with 4.6 per cent of products holding nutritional claims. Consumers with active sport activities showed higher awareness of nutritional information. There were no statistically significant differences between smokers and non-smokers regarding their attitudes toward nutritional information. Age and education play a significant role in ranking nutritional facts. The most important nutritional information is fat content, followed by sugar and vitamins.

Research limitations/implications

The nature of the study did not allow conclusions regarding causal relationship between food products and consumers as well as if nutritional information affects consumers’ choices and purchasing patronage.

Originality/value

The findings of this study are worthy, as they report the Serbian consumers’ understanding of labels and nutritional information as well as the status food labels sold in the Serbian market.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2016

Ji Yan, Kun Tian, Saeed Heravi and Peter Morgan

This paper aims to investigate consumers’ demand patterns for products with nutritional benefits and products with no nutritional benefits across processed healthy and unhealthy…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate consumers’ demand patterns for products with nutritional benefits and products with no nutritional benefits across processed healthy and unhealthy foods. This paper integrates price changes (i.e. increases and decreases) into a demand model and quantifies their relative impact on the quantity of food purchased. First, how demand patterns vary across processed healthy and unhealthy products is investigated; second, how demand patterns vary across nutrition-benefited (NB) products and non-nutrition-benefited (NNB) products is examined; and third, how consumers respond to price increases and decreases for NB across processed healthy and unhealthy foods is investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

Here, a demand model quantifying scenarios for price changes in consumer food choice behaviour is proposed, and controlled for heterogeneity at household, store and brand levels.

Findings

Consumers exhibit greater sensitivity to price decreases and less sensitivity to price increases across both processed healthy and unhealthy foods. Moreover, the research shows that consumers’ demand sensitivity is greater for NNB products than for NB products, supporting our prediction that NB products have higher brand equity than NNB products. Furthermore, the research shows that consumers are more responsive to price decreases than price increases for processed healthy NB foods, but more responsive to price increases than price decreases for unhealthy NB foods. The findings suggest that consumers exhibit a desirable demand pattern for products with nutritional benefits.

Originality/value

Although studies on the effects of nutritional benefits on demand have proliferated in recent years, researchers have only estimated their impact without considering the effect of price changes. This paper contributes by examining consumers’ price sensitivity for NB products across processed healthy and unhealthy foods based on consumer scanner data, considering both directionalities of price changes.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 50 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2021

Tong Chen, Gnel Gabrielyan, Mitsuru Shimizu and Ping Qing

The purpose of this research is to investigate how biofortification claims impact consumer food taste inference and purchase intention. Based on the halo effect, the authors…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate how biofortification claims impact consumer food taste inference and purchase intention. Based on the halo effect, the authors propose that food products with biofortification claims are inferred to taste better than regular foods. Due to this inference, biofortification claims subsequently improve purchase intention.

Design/methodology/approach

To examine these predictions, the authors conducted three between-subject design lab experiments featuring three staple foods: corn soup (β-carotene biofortification claim present or not), cooked rice (zinc biofortification claim present or not) and uncooked rice (zinc biofortification claim present or not). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two bioproduction claim conditions (present vs absent). Then, taste inference, purchase intention, consumer characteristics and confounding variables were measured.

Findings

In Experiment 1, the results showed that biofortification claims indeed appeared to evoke a heuristic halo effect, in which foods with biofortification claims were inferred to taste better than regular food. In Experiment 2, the results showed that participants had more intention to purchase foods with biofortification claims than regular food. The mediation effect of taste inference between biofortification claims and purchase intention was examined. In Experiment 3, the data further showed that this halo effect was more pronounced when consumers held a higher preference (vs lower preference) for the enriched nutritional element.

Originality/value

Biofortification claims have commonly been viewed solely as information about nutrition value for consumers. However, little is known about how biofortification claims impact hedonic consumer expectations. In this paper, the authors find that biofortification claims alone can impact consumer food taste inference, as nutritional information is not related to actual food taste. These findings extend the authors’ understanding of the psychological mechanism behind consumer attitudes towards biofortification.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 123 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Marina Cabral Rebouças, Maria do Carmo Passos Rodrigues and Silvia Maria de Freitas

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the front of a package label and the nutritional claims linked to it over consumers’ expectations as to acceptance…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the front of a package label and the nutritional claims linked to it over consumers’ expectations as to acceptance, purchase attitude and perception of quality characteristics of a new functional beverage made from cashew nut milk and added with mango juice and prebiotic substances.

Design/methodology/approach

Three versions of the front label were developed, which differed just by the type of nutritional claim presented (“0 per cent lactose and 0 per cent cholesterol; 0 per cent lactose, 0 per cent cholesterol and source of fibers, 0 per cent lactose, 0 per cent cholesterol and antioxidants”) and were evaluated in two phases, expectation and informed. For the evaluation, consumers used a multi-attribute scale, the nine-point hedonic scale and a nine-point semi-structured buying attitude scale.

Findings

The labels created a positive expectation on the consumers regarding the quality attributes, overall impression (mean = 6.0 “Like slightly”) and buying attitude (mean = 6.0 “Would probably buy”). After tasting the beverage associated with labels (informed phase), consumers kept a positive evaluation. The t-test performed between the pair of means of both phases showed that there has not been a significant difference regarding the quality attributes (p > 0.05), special, attractive, nutritive, healthy and buying attitude (Label 1, p = 0.26; Label 2, p = 0.18; Label 3, p = 0.26) in all labels.

Originality/value

The authors evaluated how the influence of label and nutritional claims in regards to a new product, a beverage made from cashew nut, affects its acceptance, buying attitude and characteristics of quality. Until this moment, there are no studies that evaluate how external attributes affect the acceptance of this beverage totally unique in the Brazilian market.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 49 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1994

C.A. Cockbill

Functional foods comprise a wide range of foodstuffs which are generallyspecially designed or reformulated to meet the needs of individuals whoare going to put special demands on…

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Abstract

Functional foods comprise a wide range of foodstuffs which are generally specially designed or reformulated to meet the needs of individuals who are going to put special demands on their physical capabilities. Functional foods must comply with general food law and food‐labelling requirements. Describes EC requirements for foods which make particular nutritional claims. Presents labelling requirements for health and nutritional claims. Considers that further legislation aimed specifically at functional foods is unnecessary.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 96 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2011

Jean C. Darian and Louis Tucci

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relative importance to consumers of different health benefits of food.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relative importance to consumers of different health benefits of food.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses conjoint analysis to investigate the relative importance of five health benefits to consumers in their intention to buy a food.

Findings

The results suggest that the single most important health benefit influencing purchase intentions is high nutritional value. If two health benefits are to be promoted, for the total sample the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce cancer, followed by high nutritional value and proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. However, for those respondents with less than a college education, the most effective combination would be high nutritional value and the potential to reduce arthritis.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size is small – 238 respondents.

Practical implications

The results can be used to help food marketers offer and promote health benefits of their products.

Social implications

More effective marketing of health benefits of foods should increase consumption of healthy foods, which will enhance consumer welfare.

Originality/value

Conjoint analysis has not previously been used in studies of this topic. The advantage of conjoint analysis over other analytical techniques is that it incorporates realistic trade‐offs when measuring consumer preferences.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 28 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

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