Front-of-pack labels and young consumers: An experimental investigation of nutrition and sustainability claims in Chile

IF 4.9 1区农林科学 Q1 FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Food Quality and Preference Pub Date : 2025-01-16 DOI:10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105432

Gabriela Fretes , Norbert L.W. Wilson , Camila Corvalan , Christina D. Economos , Sean B. Cash

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

A better understanding of youth as autonomous consumers in the food market is needed to guide food and nutrition policies to achieve healthier and sustainable diets because they interact with the food environment to obtain, prepare, and consume food and beverages. Compared to other age groups, evidence on children and adolescents (youth) purchasing behavior and front-of-package (FOP) labeling is limited. The objective of the study was to assess youth's purchasing behavior by conducting an online discrete choice experiment (DCE) in Santiago, Chile. We assessed four different food attributes: price, FOP nutrition warning label, FOP eco-label, and type of product (i.e., yogurt, cookie, apple). Data were analyzed using mixed logit models complemented with latent class logit models to further explore heterogeneity in preferences. A total of 329 youth aged 10–14 years participated in the study. Our results reveal that youths' purchasing behavior is mostly determined by price, followed by product type and environmental sustainability as measured by the FOP eco-label; responsiveness to price was not moderated by whether the youth received pocket money from a family member regularly. We further identified five classes (groups) of youth consumers where some exhibited preference for health and nutrition attributes, environmental sustainability, or price. Our findings provide a better understanding of youth as diverse and autonomous consumers and suggest at least some youths are responsive to labeling interventions.

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来源期刊

Food Quality and Preference 工程技术-食品科技

CiteScore

10.40

自引率

15.10%

发文量

263

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Food Quality and Preference is a journal devoted to sensory, consumer and behavioural research in food and non-food products. It publishes original research, critical reviews, and short communications in sensory and consumer science, and sensometrics. In addition, the journal publishes special invited issues on important timely topics and from relevant conferences. These are aimed at bridging the gap between research and application, bringing together authors and readers in consumer and market research, sensory science, sensometrics and sensory evaluation, nutrition and food choice, as well as food research, product development and sensory quality assurance. Submissions to Food Quality and Preference are limited to papers that include some form of human measurement; papers that are limited to physical/chemical measures or the routine application of sensory, consumer or econometric analysis will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution in line with the journal''s coverage as outlined below.