Front-of-Pack Labels Proposed by FDA May Have Opposite of Intended Effect: Study

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a new rule that would require a front-of-package nutrition labeling scheme that highlights the saturated fat, sodium, and sugar content of food products to help shoppers make healthier choices. However, according to a University of Florida study, the labels might have the opposite of the intended effect.

In the study, 308 subjects were instructed to review samples of front-of-pack health labels FDA proposed to nudge consumers toward healthier food choices, to see how the labels, alone and accompanied with additional information, would impact a consumers’ willingness to pay for a yogurt product.

Specifically, consumers were asked how much they would pay for a yogurt product which featured front-of-pack labels including “healthy” claims, “great taste” claims, both “healthy” and “great taste,” and a control which featured no front-of-pack labels.

Consumers were willing to spend significantly less money on the product which featured “healthy” labels, and even less for yogurt with both “healthy” and “great taste.” “Great taste” as a standalone didn’t impact how much consumers were willing to pay compared to the control yogurt.

However, additional information on the product label seemed to mitigate the negative perceptions consumers had when they saw “healthy” or “healthy” and “great taste.”

Consumers were willing to spend more on these labeled yogurts when they also featured the following disclaimer:

“The product you have just observed features a ‘healthy’ symbol. This label indicates that the product meets FDA’s proposed criteria for being designated as “Healthy,” which specifically requires a product to be low in saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium.”

“Consumers can be confused or even skeptical about food claims, especially health labels, and some might even view these claims as marketing tactics rather than genuine information,” the authors concluded. Additionally, consumers might perceive of these labels as a compromise on taste or indulgence.

“Literature shows that consumers’ perceived credibility of authoritative sources influences their behavior. This highlights the important role that FDA can play in serving as a credible source that mitigates the discount on consumer willingness to pay for the healthy labeling. Ultimately, displaying the health label (without any additional supporting information) can result in adverse effects on consumer valuations for food products. It is thus crucial that the health label is accompanied by credible information to effectively reduce consumer skepticism and enhance the perceived value of health claims.”