The influence of clean food labels on consumers' perception

Abstract

Food marketing uses packaging to attract consumers. Clean labels (CLs) have been proposed as a recent alternative to attract consumers and increase purchasing intention; however, the impact of CL on consumers' perception has not been extensively studied. In this way, the current research aimed to understand the effect of CL used in frequent food consumed by the Brazilian population (cereal bars, sandwich cookies, yogurt, loaf bread, tomato paste and ketchup) and their impact on consumers' perception. A study with 392 volunteers was carried out, and the data were obtained through an online form and analysed using an electronic spreadsheet. Each volunteer compared similar food inside packaging with conventional labels or CL, considering the same price and expiration date. Data derived from consumers' perceptions were analysed using the word association (WA) methodology. Results from volunteers showed that people verify the presence of natural ingredients in food products and prefer processed products with CL. Furthermore, several variables used to develop CL such as product quality, nutritional value and ingredients were mentioned by the volunteers as parameters influencing purchasing intention. Finally, results from WA confirmed the preference of volunteers by food packages with CL; in this way, food products with CL were correlated with sensory and nutritional aspects. This study confirms the importance of CL in processed food packaging and its importance to induce positive feelings in consumers.