Impact of Front-of-pack Nutrition Labelling on Consumer Purchases

Consumer Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Impact of Front-of-pack Nutrition Labelling on Consumer Purchases - Controlled Trial in Shopper Laboratory Stores

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02546505
• Other study ID #: EREN-BVA
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: August 28, 2015
• Last updated: December 1, 2015
• Start date: October 2015
• Est. completion date: November 2015

Study information

• Verified date: December 2015
• Source: University of Paris 13
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: France: Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Introducing Front-Of-Pack (FOP) nutrition labelling, providing simplified information on nutritional content at a glance, in order to help consumer make informed choices, has been identified as of major interest by public health specialists. In France, a recent report to the Minister of Health has proposed the introduction of a Front-of-Pack nutrition label, the 5-Colour nutrition label. Existing studies on FOP labels mainly focused on assessment of consumers' acceptability/liking and understanding. If most of the studies on purchasing behavior, conducted in real supermarkets, suggested a positive effect of FOP labels on consumers' food choices, the impact of the 5-CNL has not been evaluated.

The main objective is to evaluate the impact of a Front-of-pack nutrition label, the 5-Colour Nutrition Label on consumer purchases in a controlled environment close to real-world settings. Nutritional quality of the items purchased will be compared using the Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSA score). The study relies on a comparison across three independent samples :

• Control group: The current situation with current way brands show or not nutritional information on Front of Pack (FoP) - without consumer information

• Intervention n°1: Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods. No additional consumer information

• Intervention n°3: Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods. Additional consumer information specifically targeting nutritional information and explaining the 5-CNL will be performed (this information will consist in a concept shown to respondents before the shopping session).

Participants are recruited in the street through quota sampling, based on criteria of gender, age and purchasing habits on the products categories selected for the introduction of the FOP nutrition label.

The study relies on LabStores®, i.e. shopper laboratory stores, which are controlled study spaces in which a store is recreated in reality.The real lab store mimics a store environment with real shelves, product, and cash register, and presents several product categories in a realistic shopping environment. At the end of the shopping session, the respondents proceed to the cashier but don't actually pay for their purchases.

The selected foodstuffs come from actual retailers' brand products available on the French market. Three categories of products were selected, based on expected variability in nutritional quality of the products and logistic criteria (exclusion of fresh products):

• Breakfast cereals

• Sweet biscuits

• Salty snacks The impact of the different labels on nutritional quality (FSA score, calories, lipids, saturated fatty acids, sugars, proteins, fibre, sodium) of the shopping cart is investigated using one way ANOVA. Pairwise comparisons among FOP labels are assessed by using Tukey's multiple comparisons tests.

All tests of significance are two-sided, and a P value <0.05 is considered significant. Statistical analyses are performed using SAS software (version 9.3; SAS Institute Inc.).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 900
• Est. completion date: November 2015
• Est. primary completion date: November 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults >18 years old

• Usually purchasing the selected categories of foods (Breakfast cereals, appetizers, biscuits)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not used to purchasing the selected categories of foods

Study Design

Allocation: Non-Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Consumer Behavior
• Nutrition Labeling

Intervention

Other:
• Front-of-pack nutrition labeling
Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods.
• Consumer information
Information specifically targeting nutritional information and explaining the 5-CNL is presented to the subject (this information will consist in a concept shown to respondents before the shopping session).

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Paris 13	BVA nudge unit

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	FSA score to evaluate nutritional quality of the items purchased	Mean Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSA score) of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Energy content of the items purchased	Energy content (Kcal) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Saturated fatty acid content of the items purchased	Saturated fatty acids content (g) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Sodium content of the items purchased	Sodium content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Sugar content of the items purchased	Sugar content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Protein content of the items purchased	Protein content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Fiber content of the items purchased	Fiber content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased	Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No
Secondary	Number of purchased items labelled in green/yellow/orange/pink/red		Estimated time frame 6 weeks	No