Evaluating food front-of-pack labelling: a pan-European survey on consumers' attitudes toward food labelling.
Nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods have been widely used as a medium to foster healthier eating habits in the general population, to contribute to a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of diet-related conditions. Yet, there is no convincing evidence that food labels are an effective means to achieve the desired effect at population level. Several factors have been suggested to account for this decoupling of efficacy, e.g. difficulties in understanding the information on food-labels. The present article presents the results of a survey on Europeans' understanding of nutritional labels and evaluation on the communication tools for their diffusion. A total of 7550 phone interviews were conducted in 16 European Countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and Hungary. Consumers were asked about their opinion on nutritional information provided at different levels and their commitment to healthy behaviour.
Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiology, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova , Padova , Italy .
Dario
D
Gregori
Simonetta
S
Ballali
Claus
C
Vögele
Claudia Elena
CE
Gafare
Giulia
G
Stefanini
Kurt
K
Widhalm
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension; D003625:Data Collection; D004032:Diet; D005060:Europe; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009753:Nutritive Value; D055815:Young Adult