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

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02546505
• Recruitment Status: Completed
• First Posted: September 11, 2015
• Last Update Posted: December 2, 2015
• Sponsor: University of Paris 13
• Collaborator: BVA nudge unit
• Information provided by (Responsible Party): Serge HERCBERG, University of Paris 13

Study Description

Brief 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.).

Condition or disease	Intervention/treatment	Phase
Consumer Behavior; Nutrition Labeling	Other: Front-of-pack nutrition labeling; Other: Consumer information	Not Applicable

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional (Clinical Trial)
• Actual Enrollment: 900 participants
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)
• Official Title: Impact of Front-of-pack Nutrition Labelling on Consumer Purchases - Controlled Trial in Shopper Laboratory Stores
• Study Start Date: October 2015
• Actual Primary Completion Date: November 2015
• Actual Study Completion Date: November 2015

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/treatment
No Intervention: Control; The current situation with current way brands show or not nutritional information on Front of Pack (FoP) - without consumer information
Experimental: Intervention n°1; Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods. No additional consumer information	Other: Front-of-pack nutrition labeling; Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods.
Experimental: Intervention n°2; 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).	Other: Front-of-pack nutrition labeling; Introduction of a Front-of-pack nutrition label (5-CNL) on selected categories of foods.; Other: 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).

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures :

1. FSA score to evaluate nutritional quality of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Mean Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSA score) of the items purchased

Secondary Outcome Measures :

1. Energy content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Energy content (Kcal) for 100g of the items purchased
2. Saturated fatty acid content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Saturated fatty acids content (g) for 100g of the items purchased
3. Sodium content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Sodium content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased
4. Sugar content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Sugar content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased
5. Protein content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Protein content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased
6. Fiber content of the items purchased [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]
   Fiber content (mg) for 100g of the items purchased
7. Number of purchased items labelled in green/yellow/orange/pink/red [ Time Frame: Estimated time frame 6 weeks ]

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Criteria

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

Contacts and Locations

No Contacts or Locations Provided

More Information

Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):

Julia C, Blanchet O, Mejean C, Peneau S, Ducrot P, Alles B, Fezeu LK, Touvier M, Kesse-Guyot E, Singler E, Hercberg S. Impact of the front-of-pack 5-colour nutrition label (5-CNL) on the nutritional quality of purchases: an experimental study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2016 Sep 20;13(1):101. doi: 10.1186/s12966-016-0416-4.

• Responsible Party: Serge HERCBERG, Professor, University of Paris 13
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02546505
• Other Study ID Numbers: EREN-BVA
• First Posted: September 11, 2015
• Last Update Posted: December 2, 2015
• Last Verified: December 2015

Keywords provided by Serge HERCBERG, University of Paris 13:

Consumer behavior; Nutrition Labeling