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

Cole, Matthew, Peek, Hayden and Cowen, Daniel (2018) UK consumer perceptions of a novel till-receipt ‘traffic-light’ nutrition system. Health Promotion International, 34 (4). pp. 640-647. doi:10.1093/heapro/day007

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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
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords: nutrition, food, public health
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas:	Health, Life Sciences, Sport and Wellbeing
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	02 May 2018 14:27
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 09:08
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5569

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