Evaluation of alternative food labelling concepts

Wednesday 16 November 2005

The purpose of this research was to investigate consumer understanding of four signposting concepts:

• simple traffic lights
• multiple traffic lights
• colour-coded guideline daily amount
• monochrome guideline daily amount

See link at foot of page to view these concepts.

Food packaging with no front of pack signposting was also included in the research to act as a benchmark against which to compare the performance of the different signposting options.

The research evaluated how well each signpost format performed when respondents were asked to assess the level of fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar in an individual product, or to compare levels of two of these nutrients in a pair of products.

Respondents were also asked whether they would find signposting helpful and which signposting format they preferred. The reasons behind their preferences were explored.

More than 2,600 interviews were conducted across the UK.

For both individual product assessments and comparison of two products, multiple traffic lights and colour-coded guideline daily amount (GDA) performed strongest of the signposting concepts tested. Simple traffic lights and monochrome GDA performed significantly less well.

In the individual product evaluations, the multiple traffic lights option produced the highest level of correct responses across all age, socio-economic and geographical sub-groups and main minority ethnic groups.

When used to compare products, colour-coded GDA performed best, particularly when the products had the same colour coding for a nutrient. Both multiple traffic lights and monochrome GDA also performed strongly.

Colour-coded GDA elicited the highest level of correct responses across most demographic sub-groups compared to multiple traffic lights and monochrome GDA.

The difference in the performance of the colour-coded GDA option and multiple traffic lights in the individual product evaluations was very marked, with colour-coded GDA performing significantly less well than multiple traffic lights by a margin of 21%.

The difference in the level of correct responses, when comparing two products, between colour-coded GDA and multiple traffic lights, was smaller at 6%.

On balance, the multiple traffic lights signpost was therefore considered to most closely meet the objectives of the initiative. It helped people identify correctly and quickly whether an individual product was high or low in a particular nutrient, and helped them to compare nutrient levels in pairs of products. The majority of people found it easy to use and understand, and a wide range of consumers, including key demographic sub-groups, was able to use it correctly.

The overwhelming majority of respondents (96%) said they thought front of pack signposting would be useful in helping them make healthier food choices. A similarly high proportion of people interviewed said they would prefer a colour-coded individual nutrient signpost such as multiple traffic lights or colour-coded GDA. Colour-coded GDA was the most favoured signpost (65% preferred it).

Based on these results, the Agency is considering proposing use of the multiple traffic light option.