IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zwi/fpcrep/120.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Identifying Consumer Preferences for Nutrition Information on Grocery Store Shelf Labels

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua P. Berning

    (University of Connecticut)

  • Hayley H. Chouinard

    (Washington State University)

  • Kenneth C. Manning

    (Colorado State University)

  • Jill J. McCluskey

    (Washington State University)

  • David E. Sprott

    (Washington State University)

Abstract

Nutrition labels can potentially benefit consumers by increasing product knowledge and reducing search costs. However, the global increase in obesity rates leads one to question the effectiveness of current nutrition information formats. Alternative formats for providing nutrition information may be more effective. Shoppers at a major grocery chain participated in choice experiments designed to identify preferences for nutrition information provided on grocery store shelf labels. Shoppers demonstrate a strong affinity for shelf label nutrition information and the presentation of the nutrition information significantly affects their preferences as well. Several demographic variables help to explain differences in preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua P. Berning & Hayley H. Chouinard & Kenneth C. Manning & Jill J. McCluskey & David E. Sprott, 2009. "Identifying Consumer Preferences for Nutrition Information on Grocery Store Shelf Labels," Food Marketing Policy Center Research Reports 120, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:zwi:fpcrep:120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fmpc.uconn.edu/publications/rr/rr120.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nayga, Rodolfo M., 1996. "Determinants of Consumers' Use of Nutritional Information on Food Packages," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 303-312, December.
    2. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. & Panagiotis Lazaridis, 2009. "Can Nutritional Label Use Influence Body Weight Outcomes?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 500-525, November.
    3. Schupp, Alvin R. & Gillespie, Jeffrey M. & Reed, Debra, 1998. "Consumer Awareness And Use Of Nutrition Labels On Packaged Fresh Meats: A Pilot Study," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 29(2), pages 1-7, July.
    4. Jayachandran N. Variyam, 2008. "Do nutrition labels improve dietary outcomes?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 695-708, June.
    5. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2005. "Nutrition knowledge and consumer use of nutritional food labels," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 32(1), pages 93-118, March.
    6. Kim, Sung-Yong & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Capps, Oral, 2001. "Health Knowledge and Consumer Use of Nutritional Labels: The Issue Revisited," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 10-19, April.
    7. Stefanella Stranieri & Lucia Baldi & Alessandro Banterle, 2010. "Do Nutrition Claims Matter to Consumers? An Empirical Analysis Considering European Requirements," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 15-33, February.
    8. Mario F. Teisl & Nancy E. Bockstael & Alan Levy, 2001. "Measuring the Welfare Effects of Nutrition Information," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(1), pages 133-149.
    9. Russo, J Edward, et al, 1986. "Nutrition Information in the Supermarket," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(1), pages 48-70, June.
    10. Wansink, Brian & Sonka, Steven T. & Hasler, Clare M., 2004. "Front-label health claims: when less is more," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 659-667, December.
    11. Wiktor Adamowicz & Peter Boxall & Michael Williams & Jordan Louviere, 1998. "Stated Preference Approaches for Measuring Passive Use Values: Choice Experiments and Contingent Valuation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 64-75.
    12. Maria L. Loureiro & Azucena Gracia & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2006. "Do consumers value nutritional labels?," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 33(2), pages 249-268, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Allais, Olivier & Etilé, Fabrice & Lecocq, Sébastien, 2015. "Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 27-44.
    2. Costanigro, Marco & Deselnicu, Oana & Kroll, Stephan, 2012. "Truthful, Misguiding Labels: The Implications of Labeling Production Processes rather than their Outcomes," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124615, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Kaleb S. Jada & Mequanint B. Melesse & Marrit Berg, 2023. "The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(2), pages 395-409, April.
    4. Yang, Shang-Ho & Monteiro, Diogo Souza & Chan, Mei-Yen & Woods, Timothy A., 2016. "Preferences for Meat Labeling in Taiwanese Traditional Markets: What do Consumers Want?," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 47(1), pages 1-8, March.
    5. Cavaliere, Alessia & De Marchi, Elisa & Banterle, Alessandro, 2013. "Time Preference and Health: The Problem of Obesity," 2013 International European Forum, February 18-22, 2013, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 164754, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    6. Carroll, Kathryn A. & Samek, Anya, 2018. "Field experiments on food choice in grocery stores: A ‘how-to’ guide," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 331-340.
    7. Wang, Emily Y. & Wei, Hongli & Caswell, Julie A., 2016. "The impact of mandatory trans fat labeling on product mix and consumer choice: A longitudinal analysis of the U.S. Market for margarine and spreads," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 63-81.
    8. Grandi, Benedetta & Burt, Steve & Cardinali, Maria Grazia, 2021. "Encouraging healthy choices in the retail store environment: Combining product information and shelf allocation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    9. Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe & Schulz, Norbert & Breustedt, Gunnar, 2014. "Assessing Farmers' Willingness to Accept "Greening": Insights from a Discrete Choice Experiment in Gremany," 88th Annual Conference, April 9-11, 2014, AgroParisTech, Paris, France 170560, Agricultural Economics Society.
    10. Loureiro, Maria L. & Rahmani, Djamel, 2016. "The incidence of calorie labeling on fast food choices: A comparison between stated preferences and actual choices," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 82-93.
    11. Berning, Joshua P. & Sprott, David E., 2011. "Examining the Effectiveness of Nutrition Information in a Simulated Shopping Environment," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 42(3), pages 1-17, November.
    12. Kee, Jennifer & Segovia, Michelle S. & Saboury, Piruz & Palma, Marco A., 2022. "Appealing to generosity to reduce food calorie intake: A natural field experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Jeremy Kees & Marla B. Royne & Yoon-Na Cho, 2014. "Regulating Front-of-Package Nutrition Information Disclosures: A Test of Industry Self-Regulation vs. Other Popular Options," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 147-174, March.
    14. Fichera, Eleonora & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2020. "The response to nutritional labels: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Zhu, Chen & Huang, Rui, 2014. "Heterogeneity in Consumer Responses to Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: Evidence from a Natural Experiment?," Working Papers 27, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    16. Allais, Olivier & Bazoche, Pascale & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2017. "Getting more people on the stairs: The impact of point-of-decision prompts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 18-27.
    17. Young, Jeffrey S., 2021. "Measuring palatability as a linear combination of nutrient levels in food items," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    18. Emma Soy-Massoni & Kathleen Uyttewaal & Núria Prat-Guitart & Elsa Varela, 2022. "Fire Eaters: Exploring Consumer Preferences for Labeling Extensive Livestock Products Providing Wildfire Prevention Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-13, May.
    19. Grebitus, Carola & Davis, George C., 2017. "Change is good!? Analyzing the relationship between attention and nutrition facts panel modifications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 119-130.
    20. Loureiro, Maria L. & Rahmani, Djamal, 2013. "Calorie labeling and fast food choices in surveys and actual markets: some new behavioral results," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150622, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    21. Perino, Grischa & Schwirplies, Claudia, 2022. "Meaty arguments and fishy effects: Field experimental evidence on the impact of reasons to reduce meat consumption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    22. Yang, Shang-Ho & Souza Monteiro, Diogo, 2016. "What’s in a Price? The Impact of Starting Point Bias in WTP for Information in Taiwanese Wet Markets," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235766, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr, 2009. "On Consumers' Valuation Of Nutrition Information," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 223-247, July.
    2. Bonanno, Alessandro & Bimbo, Francesco & Cleary, Rebecca & Castellari, Elena, 2018. "Food labels and adult BMI in Italy – An unconditional quantile regression approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 199-211.
    3. Andreas Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo Nayga & Maria Kapsokefalou & George Chryssochoidis, 2008. "A theoretical and empirical investigation of nutritional label use," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 9(3), pages 293-304, August.
    4. Bond, Craig A. & Thilmany, Dawn D. & Bond, Jennifer Keeling, 2008. "What to Choose? The Value of Label Claims to Fresh Produce Consumers," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1-26.
    5. Drichoutis, Andreas C. & Lazaridis, Panagiotis & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 2006. "Nutritional food label use: A theoretical and empirical perspective," 98th Seminar, June 29-July 2, 2006, Chania, Crete, Greece 10033, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Stefanella Stranieri & Lucia Baldi & Alessandro Banterle, 2010. "Do Nutrition Claims Matter to Consumers? An Empirical Analysis Considering European Requirements," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 15-33, February.
    7. Gracia, Azucena & Loureiro, Maria & Nayga, Rodolfo Jr., 2007. "Do consumers perceive benefits from the implementation of a EU mandatory nutritional labelling program?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 160-174, April.
    8. Chang, Hung-Hao & Nayga Jr., Rodolfo M., 2011. "Mother's nutritional label use and children's body weight," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 171-178, April.
    9. D. Fang & R. M. Nayga & H. A. Snell & G. H. West & C. Bazzani, 2019. "Evaluating USA’s New Nutrition and Supplement Facts Label: Evidence from a Non-hypothetical Choice Experiment," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 545-562, December.
    10. Barreiro-Hurlé, Jesús & Gracia, Azucena & de-Magistris, Tiziana, 2010. "Does nutrition information on food products lead to healthier food choices?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 221-229, June.
    11. Allais, Olivier & Etilé, Fabrice & Lecocq, Sébastien, 2015. "Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 27-44.
    12. Balcombe, Kelvin & Fraser, Iain & Falco, Salvatore Di, 2010. "Traffic lights and food choice: A choice experiment examining the relationship between nutritional food labels and price," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 211-220, June.
    13. Ran, Tao & Yue, Chengyan & Rihn, Alicia, 2015. "Are Grocery Shoppers of Households with Weight-Concerned Members Willing to Pay More for Nutritional Information on Food?," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 46(3), pages 1-18, November.
    14. Banterle, Alessandro & Ricci, Elena Claire, 2013. "Does the Sustainability of Food Products Influence Consumer Choices? The Case of Italy," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 4(2), pages 1-10, November.
    15. S. Marette & L. Nabec & F. Durieux, 2019. "Improving Nutritional Quality of Consumers’ Food Purchases With Traffic-Lights Labels: An Experimental Analysis," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 377-395, September.
    16. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. & Panagiotis Lazaridis, 2009. "Can Nutritional Label Use Influence Body Weight Outcomes?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 500-525, November.
    17. Stranieri, Stefanella & Banterle, Alessandro, 2015. "Consumer Interest in Meat Labelled Attributes: Who Cares?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Annunziata, Azzurra & Vecchio, Riccardo, 2012. "Factors affecting use and understanding of nutrition information on food labels: evidences from customers," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14.
    19. Kiesel, Kristin & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2013. "Can information costs affect consumer choice? Nutritional labels in a supermarket experiment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-163.
    20. Melo, Grace & Zhen, Chen & Colson, Greg, 2019. "Does point-of-sale nutrition information improve the nutritional quality of food choices?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 133-143.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zwi:fpcrep:120. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dauctus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.