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Does easily accessible nutritional labelling increase consumption of healthy meals away from home? A field experiment measuring the impact of a point-of-purchase healthy symbol on lunch sales

Thunström, Linda and Nordström, Jonas LU (2011) In Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section C. Food Economics 8(4). p.200-207
Abstract
This paper analyses the effect on meal consumption away from home of a point-of-purchase healthy symbol. We base the analysis on a field experiment in a lunch restaurant. Our results suggest that meal consumption does not increase if the meal is labelled with a healthy symbol. Also, the mean nutritional content of meals consumed seems unaffected by the introduction of a healthy-labelled meal on the menu. Even if easily accessible and understood, menu labelling therefore seems inefficient in promoting healthier meal choices. Factors influencing meal consumption are meal ingredients and the order of the meal on the menu.
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Consumer economics, food labelling, experiment, health
in
Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section C. Food Economics
volume
8
issue
4
pages
200 - 207
publisher
Taylor & Francis
ISSN
1650-7541
DOI
10.1080/16507541.2012.678582
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
adc42133-f71c-4b17-927f-40c6d5eb85e9 (old id 3359106)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:12:35
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:24:30
@article{adc42133-f71c-4b17-927f-40c6d5eb85e9,
  abstract     = {{This paper analyses the effect on meal consumption away from home of a point-of-purchase healthy symbol. We base the analysis on a field experiment in a lunch restaurant. Our results suggest that meal consumption does not increase if the meal is labelled with a healthy symbol. Also, the mean nutritional content of meals consumed seems unaffected by the introduction of a healthy-labelled meal on the menu. Even if easily accessible and understood, menu labelling therefore seems inefficient in promoting healthier meal choices. Factors influencing meal consumption are meal ingredients and the order of the meal on the menu.}},
  author       = {{Thunström, Linda and Nordström, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{1650-7541}},
  keywords     = {{Consumer economics; food labelling; experiment; health}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{200--207}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section C. Food Economics}},
  title        = {{Does easily accessible nutritional labelling increase consumption of healthy meals away from home? A field experiment measuring the impact of a point-of-purchase healthy symbol on lunch sales}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16507541.2012.678582}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/16507541.2012.678582}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}