FDA Asks Shoppers About Food Label Formats : Part 2

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 2 of 2)

Evaluating front panel claims: Participants were asked to use the nutrition information on the back of the label to decide if five health claims for the product were "correct," "incorrect," or "can't tell from the information on the label."

Participants made more correct judgments using Percent DV without DV (format 4).

Assessment of product healthfulness: After looking at the statements on front of a package, participants were asked to look at the nutrition label and rate the overall healthfulness of a product using a scale from 1 (not at all healthy) to 10 (very healthy).

Participants rated the Highlight format (format 6) as most useful.

In the last question, participants were asked which format they thought would be most helpful overall.

Participants ranked Adjective and Highlight (formats 5 and 6) as most preferred, with Grouping (number 7) as third. Paradoxically, participants did not rank these three among the highest in the previous tasks, which measured actual use.

FDA's Levy explains preference alone is not a good measure. He says that "behavior measures based on actual use performance are likely to be more reliable than subjective preference measures." In other words, whether a consumer can make practical use of the label is the important consideration.

From the surveys, FDA researchers learned that consumers can be grouped into three types: those who are already motivated to use a nutrition label, those who are not, and those who would use the label if it were made easy, says Levy. Motivated consumers fall into two categories: the healthy educated and the health-compromised with a desire to know.

"Motivated consumers will use any type of nutrition label, no matter what's on it and how difficult the format," says Levy. "The not motivated will likely never use the nutrition label, no matter how it's designed." Those in the middle group, which comprises 60 percent of all consumers, are the likely beneficiaries of a well-designed label.

These considerations, and the survey finding that preference does not correspond with performance, are important trade-offs that make policy choices for label designs difficult, Levy says. However, a standard format that improves comprehension and readability of the nutrition information on the food label will help consumers plan and maintain healthy diets. In addition, it could be a tool for health professionals to educate their clients about nutrition and health.

Results of the consumer surveys, along with earlier FDA studies using focus groups, were published in the Federal Register on April XX, 1992, with a comment period of 60 days.

Industry Surveys

FDA called for an industry/government cooperative format testing program in a notice published in the July 1, 1991, Federal Register. In response, the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the National Food Processors Association, in cooperation with FDA, developed and reviewed an experimental design and questionnaire for their own mall surveys. The industry study used the same seven formats as FDA's second mall survey, but tested the formats on 23 different food products in a national sample of 5,600 food shoppers in 36 shopping malls.

Reports of these study results were not completed when FDA published its label format proposal in April, but the agency will consider the results in its design of a standard nutrition label format.

FDA plans to issue final regulations for the standard label format this November.

Format Choices

These are the seven formats FDA asked shoppers to consider in its second mall survey about food label formats.

Control: is similar to the nutrition format currently used but includes nutrient components required by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act.

Control/DV: adds Daily Values (DV) listed in grams for "macronutrients" such as fat, carbohydrate and fiber.

Percent DV: lists Daily Values as percentages and in grams. (Daily Values is a listing FDA has proposed to replace the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances in the nutrition label.)

Percent DV without DV listed in grams: lists Daily Values only as percentages.

Adjective: Relative amounts of nutrients are described as high, medium or low.

Highlight: Nutrient amounts that meet Daily Values are set in bold type.

Grouping: Nutrients are grouped into eat more/eat less categories.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.