By Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RD   Date: 10/21/09

Food labels have been getting a lot of attention lately especially after the FDA announced yesterday that it’s looking into a variety of new front of pack labeling systems now on the market and considering developing its own standards.  The food label is often seen as a tool to help consumers navigate their food choices, but these days it seems that a lot is being asked of it to change consumer behavior. Here at the International Food Information Council Foundation we’ve looked at how people use the label while shopping and the answer might surprise you.

What Consumers Say about Food Labels

Our 2009 Food & Health Survey asked Americans to choose, from a list, the top three sources that they use most often to guide their food, nutrition, and food safety practices.  Here’s what people said:

1)       65% Mass Media (including Internet, TV, newspaper, magazine, and radio)

2)       61% Food Labels (in general)

3)       42% Family & Friends

4)       33% Health professionals (including doctors, nurses and physician assistants

5)       28% Grocery store, drug store or specialty store

We also asked people what they look at on the package when buying food.  Among 11 package factors, the Nutrition Facts Panel came out on top, followed by statements about nutrition (29%) and health benefits (20%).  Interestingly, only 10% of Americans report looking for a health symbol or icon, and they tell us they also look at several other key factors including taste, price, and convenience in addition to healthfulness when making food and beverage purchases. 

What Consumers Do (and Do Not) with Food Labels

While people say they use many aspects of information on food packages when making purchase decisions, including the Nutrition Facts Panel, our ethnographic research shows that they don’t actually use the Nutrition Facts Panel as often as they say they do, but they are more likely to use it when, among other factors, nutrition information, such as a claim, is present on the front of the package. Still, even when they use these tools, our research indicates that people struggle to understand and apply the nutrition information they see and hear, especially regarding how their individual food choices fit into their daily diet.

The Bottom Line

Any front-of-pack nutrition labeling approach must feature several aspects to be successful:

·         A strong scientific basis

·         Transparency regarding nutrition criteria and/or scoring

·         Flexibility to account for changes in food and nutrition science

·         Education components to help people use it to build an overall healthful diet

·         Evaluation components to determine its effect on motivation, behavior change, and health outcomes

Front-of-pack nutrition labeling offers an opportunity for people to compare products in order to make quick decisions about the nutrient content of a food or beverage. Such programs may guide consumers toward more healthful overall diets and, ultimately, better health outcomes, but more research could determine if front-of-pack labeling systems will be able to meet this goal. 

Our research has shown us that consumers use many sources of information, including the media, health professionals, and the label, and consider many factors, such as taste, price, and convenience, in additional to healthfulness, when making their food decisions. The food label is just ONE tool to help consumers make healthful food choices; it is not the end game.

What tools do you think are most useful in helping consumers build healthful diets?