Food labels confuse consumers

Published on Monday 29 September 2008 22:24

FOOD nutrition labels are causing confusion among some consumers, a panel of independent experts have found.

The findings, published halfway through the Food Standards Agency's 670,000 study into nutritional labels, reveal that shoppers can have trouble understanding the traffic light-style colour system, pie graphs and guideline daily amount (GDA) figures.

Researchers joined 100 shoppers who were asked to talk their way through buying decisions in supermarkets and their use of front of pack nutrition labels. Further studies were conducted at checkouts and in the shoppers' homes.

The study found that a lack of numeracy among shoppers caused confusion for a significant number who felt that the GDA percentage figures required complex mathematical calculations.

Shoppers were also reluctant to use the nutrition labels for cakes, chocolate and sweets, reasoning that they already knew the indulgences were bad for them and wanted to treat themselves anyway. Similarly, they ignored the labels for basic items like milk, flour and bread, because they were regarded as everyday essentials.

Over the next three months, 3,000 shoppers will be interviewed face to face by researchers from the University of Surrey, who are assisting with the study, and consumers' comprehension of various types of nutrition labels will be tested.

The final results of this research will be published in spring 2009 and will help to shape the Food Standard Agency's future policy for one single labelling scheme.