The Daily Intake Guide (an industry-created nutrition label) and the Health Star Rating (a new label created by a joint committee of government, academic, food industry, public health and consumer representatives) are two nutrition labels currently appearing on foods in Australian supermarkets. Two studies were conducted looking at how these labels influence consumer perceptions of product healthiness and product choices.
Australian consumers, aged 10 to 90, were recruited from the general population from high, medium and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Across both studies, respondents were presented with fictional products that varied in healthiness and the type of front-of-pack label present. A range of food products was tested, including foods that are often consumed as snacks and meals. In the first study, respondents (n = 2,058) rated the products on how healthy they perceived them to be. In the second study, a separate sample of respondents (n = 2,069) viewed products within choice sets and indicated which product they would be most likely to buy.
When the Daily Intake Guide was present on-pack, there was no difference in perceptions of healthiness or product choice according to actual healthiness, suggesting that respondents were less able to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy products with this label. In contrast, when the Health Start Rating was present, respondents’ perceptions of healthiness and their selection of products positively aligned with actual product healthiness. Importantly, the Health Star Rating helped consumers identify and avoid unhealthy products suggesting that food selection was based on healthiness and was not solely due to the presence of the label.
These studies, conducted across a large sample of consumers, provide converging evidence that the Health Star Rating is more effective than the Daily Intake Guide at helping consumers of all ages and socioeconomic groups to make healthier food choices.