UK consumer perceptions of a novel till-receipt 'traffic-light' nutrition system

Cole, Matthew and Peek, Hayden and Cowen, Daniel (2018) UK consumer perceptions of a novel till-receipt 'traffic-light' nutrition system. Health Promotion International. ISSN 1460-2245

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Abstract

Front-of-pack (FoP) traffic light nutrition labelling has been widely proposed as a tool to improve public health nutrition. Current evidence suggests that whilst consumers generally find them to be useful and an important source of information about a particular food or ingredient, this may have limited value in isolation when considering a person's overall nutritional intake. This study sought to examine UK consumers' use of existing FoP traffic light food labelling and ascertain public perception of a novel 'till-receipt' summary providing nutritional information about consumers entire shopping purchases. In total, 237 respondents completed an online questionnaire between May and June 2016. Almost two-thirds were female (n = 152, 64.1%) and the largest proportion of responses were received from those aged 25-32 years (n = 53, 22.4%) and 41-50 years (n = 53, 22.4%). About 83.5% of respondents suggested that they currently use traffic light information to inform their food purchases and 'health' was reported as the most important factor influencing food choice (42.2%; n = 100). Notably, 54.4% of respondents indicated that the novel till-receipt system could provide a solution to the potential limitations of existing FoP labelling and could help inform healthier food purchases. Our findings strengthen the existing evidence base to suggest that traffic light information is a useful tool to aid consumer food purchases. Moreover, our outcomes propose that consumers may benefit from a new receipt-based traffic light system which provides a more holistic summary of their entire food purchases.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1093/heapro/day007
Dates:	Date Event 26 March 2018 Published 11 December 2017 Accepted
Subjects:	CAH02 - subjects allied to medicine > CAH02-06 - allied health > CAH02-06-02 - nutrition and dietetics CAH06 - agriculture, food and related studies > CAH06-01 - agriculture, food and related studies > CAH06-01-06 - food and beverage studies (non-specific)
Divisions:	Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > College of Health and Care Professions
Depositing User:	Matthew Cole
Date Deposited:	25 Apr 2018 13:30
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2022 12:21
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5854

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