Free-from labels (2016-2017)

In a study among four European countries (UK, Sweden, Poland and France), we wanted to find out how “free-from” labelling shapes consumers’ perception of food products and whether the absence of an ingredient is considered an indicator of improved nutritional value of the product.

We looked at four “free-from” labels (free of gluten, lactose, GMO and palm oil) and different product categories that these labels typically appear on, such as bread/pasta/cookies (free-from gluten), cheese/milk/yoghurt (free-from lactose), oil/corn/chocolate (free-from GMOs) and margarine/chocolate spread/chocolate (free-from palm oil).

How consumers perceived the healthiness of these foods was evaluated by comparing products with the free-from labels to identical products without the labels. Potential predictors for healthiness evaluation and intention to pay a price premium were assessed, including nutrition knowledge, information-seeking on food packages, preference for food naturalness, general health interest, trust in actors in the food domain, and affect regarding the absent ingredients.

We found that, overall, products with a free-from label were considered healthier than products without such a label, with the strongest effects occurring for labels indicating that products were free of GMOs and free of palm oil. This held true despite some country differences. Information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and affect were significant predictors of healthiness evaluation. Furthermore, healthiness evaluation, information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and preference for naturalness predicted intention to pay a price premium for products labelled free-from.

In conclusion, when shaping consumers’ food shopping behaviour using certain food labels, it is important to know how consumers interpret those labels. A false interpretation of labels might lead to unintended changes in consumer behaviour.

EUFIC Forum N°8 - Consumer Attitudes towards ‘Free-From’ Labels.

Publication:

• Hartmann, C., Hieke, S., Taper, C., & Siegrist, M. (2018). European consumer healthiness evaluation of ‘Free-from’ labelled food products. Food quality and preference, 68, 377-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.12.009

Column:

• Hieke, S. (2018). Free-from’ labels – what do consumers really think? Column: Consumer Perspective, Agro Food industry high-tech, Vol. 29(2). https://www.teknoscienze.com/tks_article/free-from-labels-what-do-consumers-really-think/

Want to know more? Contact sophie.hieke@eufic.org