Food Standards Agency
Thursday 28 August 2008
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What is RSS?The Agency has carried out a programme of research in its work to develop the front of pack signpost labelling scheme. The main findings of the research are summarised here.
The aim of the scheme is to:
Four studies, all available from the links at the end of this page, were carried out in three phases during 2004 and 2005 to test various signposting approaches against these criteria:
1. Large-scale quantitative performance research, published November 2005 as part of the third phase of research, based on interviews with more than 2,600 UK consumers to test their ability to use Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), monochrome (MGDA) and colour-coded (CGDA) guideline daily amounts-based formats and Simple Traffic Lights (STL), compared with a 'no-signposting' benchmark.
The aim was for the participants to assess the nutritional content of foods and compare similar products in an attempt to choose healthier options. Data on consumer preferences for each of the signposts in terms of information content and presentation was also collected. Examples of the tested formats are below.
2. Qualitative research, published November 2005 also as part of the third phase, that explored issues surrounding the application of signpost labelling including which products it could most usefully be applied to, how consumers use signposting, and how they balance the information it provides to help make purchasing decisions.
3. First phase qualitative research, published November 2004, that explored consumer preference for five signpost labelling formats (STL, extended traffic lights, MTL, healthy logo, and a format based on GDAs).
4. Second phase qualitative research, published March 2005, that explored consumer preference for a range of optimised GDA based formats, including formats based on bar charts and percentages.
Back to topSignpost labelling research - Multiple traffic lights
GDA concept with colour coding
Signpost labelling research - GDA concept with colour coding
Simple traffic lights
Signpost labelling research - Simple traffic lights
Monochrome GDA concept
Signpost labelling research - Monochrome GDA concept Back to top
1. Best performing format
In a large scale quantitative study two signposting formats (MTL and CGDA) performed significantly better than the other two (STL and MGDA).
All signposting formats performed better than products without any signposting.
Of these formats, MTL was substantially more successful at signalling the nutritional characteristics of a single product (90% correct responses compared with 69% for CGDA). Both signpost formats were effective when comparing two products.
In individual product assessments, MTL performed best across all socio-economic groups including C2 (89% correct responses compared with 67% with CGDA) and DE subgroups (89% compared with 65% with CGDA). When comparing two products, the level of correct responses was higher for CGDA relative to MTL for the whole sample, however, there was no significant difference among C2 respondents (89% and 87% correct responses respectively).
Among the main minority ethnic groups, MTL performed best in the individual product evaluation (93% correct responses against 66% for CGDA). When comparing two products, among main ethnic groups, CGDA performed better than MTL (92% and 83% correct responses respectively). As for the whole population, MTL outperformed CGDA by a greater margin (27%) in individual product assessments than that observed for CGDA when comparing two products (9%).
In individual product evaluations, MGDA, STL and products with no signpost labelling performed less well than CGDA and MTL, with levels of correct responses of less than 50% in each case. When comparing two products, STL performed least well (60% correct responses) while MGDA performance was comparable to that for CGDA and MTL (88% correct responses).
2. Most consumers preferred signpost formats including colours; High, Medium and Low descriptors; and information on nutrient levels
The quantitative study also provided information on preference for different signposting formats. It showed that consumers liked both MTL and CGDA formats, which included colour-coded information to help categorise the level of individual nutrients in a food as High, Medium or Low much better than those which did not (STL and MGDA).
Overall, CGDA was the preferred format (65% preferred this format) since it was considered to contain the most information. Traffic light colour-coding for individual nutrients was found to help consumers interpret and understand the nutritional content of foods. STL and MGDA were not well liked by consumers. Only 3% and 2% of consumers described MGDA and STL respectively as their preferred signpost.
3. High, Medium, and Low descriptors helped consumers interpret colours
Consumers welcomed use of the terms High, Medium and Low, which they considered were helpful and informative. Use of the terms together with colour-coding was considered to help quickly convey the nutritional message about the relative amounts of nutrients in the product.
4. Consumer interpretation of colour-coding
Consumers indicated they would be likely to use the colour-coding to help see at a glance the level of a nutrient in a food. They would only refer to numerical information on the back of pack if they wanted further reassurance or more detailed information.
In general, consumers felt that a product with a green or amber banding was likely to be accepted at face value as a
healthier
food choice.
Consumers would use signposting to extract the level of information they wanted on those nutrients of interest to them. For example, a consumer concerned about their intake of fat may seek out a product with low/green fat, but be less concerned if that same product was medium/amber for sugar.
When comparing products, consumers indicated that they would use the colour coding information alongside more general knowledge about an individual product, its role as part of a balanced diet and the quantities in which it is consumed to guide their purchasing decisions.
5. Some consumers like per serving/GDA information but can't always use it correctly
Consumers appeared to find inclusion of numerical information useful and reassuring, although they were more likely to use it as a secondary piece of 'back-up' information and use the colour coding to make their initial assessments of foods.
Some consumers were unable to use the numerical information correctly.
6. Consumers support inclusion of fat, saturated fats, total sugars and salt in signposts
While some consumers were interested in information on calories, most felt this information was highlighted separately on pre-packed products, and did not therefore need to be incorporated into the signpost.
7. Consumers feel there is the strongest need for a signpost labelling scheme on processed foods that they find it difficult to assess the nutritional quality of
8. Confused by use of percentages
While some consumers found percentages useful to describe the levels of nutrients in a food as a proportion of the GDA, others were confused and likely to be �turned-off� by what they considered to be complex information. There was also some confusion as to whether the percentage represented the level of a nutrient in a food, or the proportion that food contributed to the GDA for a given nutrient.
In addition to Agency research, consumer research by the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) shows that consumers did not like complex front of pack labelling schemes using percentages or graphs.
9. Confused by use of bar charts
When the use of bar charts to present percentage information was explored, there was a mixed response with some consumers finding them useful, but others found them difficult to interpret and felt they added little value in terms of a visual aid.
This meeting was held to discuss the outcome of the recently published qualitative consumer research on options for signpost labelling, as well as how the Agency can best take forward this work. A wide range of stakeholders attended, representing industry, manufacturers, consumer groups, enforcement and public health bodies.
Details of the next phase of the Agency's work on 'signposting' labelling to help people make healthier choices are published today.
The purpose of this research, published in November 2004, was to test a range of concepts for how this signposting information might be presented to the consumer. It was carried out for the Agency by independent researchers.
The purpose of this research was to investigate consumer understanding of four signposting concepts:
The purpose of this research was to further investigate issues around consumer use and application of the two signposting formats that came out strongest from the Agency's 'Evaluation of alternative food labelling signpost concepts' research.
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