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Effect of Warning Labels on Consumer Motivation and Intention to Avoid Consuming Processed Foods
Cristian Adasme-Berríos1, Luís Aliaga-Ortega1, Berta Schnettler2,3
1Departamento de Economía y Administración, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 3460000, Chile.
Nutrients
|April 23, 2022
Summary
Nutritional warnings (NWs) on food packaging effectively increase the intention to avoid processed foods. These labels also help shift negative eating motivations towards healthier choices, despite not impacting nutritional knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Food science and public health policy
- Consumer behavior research
- Nutritional labeling effectiveness
Background:
- Front-of-package nutritional warnings (NWs) are public policy tools designed to help consumers identify processed foods high in critical nutrients.
- Limited research exists on how NW messages interact with nutritional knowledge, consumer motivation, and avoidance intentions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationships between NW messages, nutritional knowledge, eating motivation, and the intention to avoid processed foods.
- To test a theoretical model examining these dimensions using structural equations.
Main Methods:
- A survey was administered to 807 individuals responsible for household food purchasing decisions.
- Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data and test the theoretical model.
Main Results:
- NW messages directly increase the intention to avoid processed foods.
- Eating motivation negatively impacts avoidance intention directly.
- NW messages mediate the relationship between avoidance intention and eating motivation, turning negative motivation positive.
- NW messages did not show a significant effect on nutritional knowledge.
Conclusions:
- Nutritional warnings (NWs) are effective in boosting the intention to avoid processed foods.
- NWs can mitigate negative eating motivations, redirecting them towards healthier food choices.
- The impact of NWs on nutritional knowledge requires further investigation.
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