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It is not uncommon these days to find customers at a supermarket closely examining food packages. In the past, they would simply read the ingredients list and the expiry date. Today, with the double-edged sophistication of our lives, we are faced with a detailed nutritional label urging us to take note of what it says.
A required component of packaged food labels in many countries today, the nutritional label became mandatory in the US in 1990 with the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (FDA).
In Maryland, US, a convention was held in 2003 under the title "Exploring the Links Between Weight Management and Food Labels and Packaging." During the meeting, nutritional experts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services discussed the virtues of the nutritional label and how it could enhance the consumer's decision-making process.
When the nutritional label first came out, "there was full recognition that to be useful, …[it] had to be used on all packaged foods," said Christine Taylor, Director of the Office of Nutritional Product and Labeling and Dietary Supplements in the Food Center for Safety and Applied Nutrition at FDA.
Research was conducted to come up with a label that was efficient and unambiguous. In effect, three conditions needed to be kept in consideration for the label, according to Lester Crawford, Deputy Commissioner of the FDA. "We have to have some degree of scientific evidence for health claims, it has to be pre-approved by FDA, and the labeling cannot be misleading," he said (FDA).
The appearance of the label, Crawford explained, is vital. "It must be targeted. It must be readable. It has to accommodate people that have to wear bifocals. It has to be something that gets the job done."
That consumer interface, according to Taylor, included being able to quickly spot it and that it becomes the same kind of label used in the same place, "so that consumers could use it as easily and as readily as possible."
However, Taylor pointed out, there are many other things on a food product that are also part of the label, such as product identification, ingredients statements, and manufacturer contact information. Certain labels also carry claims such as "calorie-free", "low-calorie" (defined as less than 40 K per serving), as well as comparison claims such as "reduced calorie" and declarations for fats, carbohydrates and sugar (FDA).
The part of the label discussed here is in fact the tabular part of the label under the heading "nutritional values" and under which there are many numbers and percentages left for the consumer to decipher.
How Consumers Use the Label
Once the label was coined, it was only natural to conduct research to look into how it was put into use by consumers. The nutritional label is being used by the consumer as a tool, said Taylor, to make dietary choices but not to build their diet. "As much as you'd like to think that they would use the food label to build their diet and track it during the day, that's very unusual. You have to be a highly motivated person in order to use the food package for that purpose," she said, adding that the customer may get frustrated because packaged foods are not the only thing they eat.
In a study conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), it was found that 54 percent of customers look at the list of ingredients and nutrition information when deciding which food to purchase or eat (FDA).
"We asked them what kind of information they were aware of on the food package label. The caloric information actually rated higher than the dietary fat information. On other surveys that I've done in the past, when you talk about food labels they usually talk about fat first. This shows that there are some changes that are occurring in the mindset," said Sue Borra, Senior Vice President and Director of Nutrition at IFIC.
According to a US study conducted by the Food Marketing Institute in 2004, shoppers used labels to manage ailments such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or osteoporosis (Everage).
Younger consumers were more interested in information that would help them lose weight, according to the survey, which showed that 40 percent of shoppers purchased products claiming to be low in carbohydrates. Of these consumers, 66 percent were attracted to low-fat claims on products, and 55 percent bought them because they were low in saturated fats.
"Similarly, half of all consumers purchase certain foods because the packaging claims that they are 'high' in certain nutrients, such as calcium or vitamin C, or claim to be 'vitamin rich' or 'vitamin fortified.'"
A study in the UK conducted by the Food Standards Agency also showed that people checked calories first as well as fat content (FoodNavigator.com).
A study was conducted among middle-income women in South Africa in 2001 to evaluate their attitudes towards and their knowledge of nutritional labeling (Anderson). The results of the survey showed that although middle-income women lacked nutritional labeling knowledge they had a positive attitude towards nutritional labeling.
Nearly 65 percent of the consumers surveyed said that they read food labels when buying food items, and a higher percentage, almost 80 percent, said they use the labels when buying new products. More consumers read nutritional labeling at home (57.8 percent) than during general food purchasing (52.8 percent). Consumers who read nutritional information also claimed to understand it and use it to assist them in making food purchases.
The researchers recommended the standardization of information presented on labels. They also said that there's a need for a "nutritional labeling education program in South Africa." The purpose of the program, they said, would be to motivate consumers to make use of nutritional information on food labels in order to choose foods that will contribute to a balanced diet. By choosing foods according to their nutritional values and assessing the content of new foods added to their diet, consumers would thus take responsibility for their health.
The Problem With Serving Size
Research also showed that the serving size shown on most nutritional labels confused many customers who were unable to note the difference between a serving size and their normal portion size. The serving size is a recommended portion size but the actual consumption (portion) may differ and so some math needs to be done if the information on the label is to be used as a guide to daily intake.
Consumers used terms such as "portion size" and "serving size" interchangeably, according to an IFIC study. "They were aware of these terms, but they were not concerned that they were that much different," said Borra.
However, Borra added that some customers were aware that serving sizes on the label are much smaller than what a normal person would consume as a portion. One consumer in the IFIC study said, "the serving size on the box is always too small. It's more for a child. You got itty-bitty servings."
Taylor also said that during the last 10 years, the consumption of the average American has increased and so serving sizes on the labels need to be reconsidered.
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