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Health-related cues on the packages of processed and ultra-processed products: prevalence and policy implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2022

Florencia Alcaire Open the ORCID record for Florencia Alcaire [Opens in a new window] ,
Leticia Vidal ,
Leandro Machín ,
Lucía Antúnez ,
Ana Giménez ,
María Rosa Curutchet  and
Gastón Ares
Florencia Alcaire*
Affiliation:
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Canelones, Uruguay
Leticia Vidal
Affiliation:
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Canelones, Uruguay
Leandro Machín
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Básica en Psicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Lucía Antúnez
Affiliation:
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Canelones, Uruguay
Ana Giménez
Affiliation:
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Canelones, Uruguay
María Rosa Curutchet
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Alimentación, Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, Montevideo, Uruguay
Gastón Ares
Affiliation:
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Pando, Canelones, Uruguay Centro de Investigación Básica en Psicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
*
* Corresponding author: F. Alcaire, email falcaire@fq.edu.uy
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Abstract

The information included on food packages has a crucial role in influencing consumer product associations and purchase decisions. In particular, visual and textual cues on processed and ultra-processed products can convey health-related associations that influence consumer healthiness perception and purchase decisions. In this context, the present work aimed to explore the use of health-related cues on the packages of processed and ultra-processed products sold in Uruguay to provide insights for policy making. A total of 3813 products from thirty-four different food categories found in four of the most important supermarket chains in Uruguay were surveyed. The textual and visual information included on the packages as well as the nutritional composition of the products were analysed. Results showed that 67 % of the products included at least one health-related cue. Pictures of culinary ingredients, natural and minimally processed foods were the most frequent health-related cue, followed by references to naturalness and claims related to critical nutrients. The prevalence of health-related cues largely differed across product categories, ranging from 100 to 17 %. The relationship between the presence of health-related cues on the packages and the excessive content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases was assessed using a gradient boosting model, which showed limited predictive ability. This suggests that the inclusion of health-related cues on food packages was not strongly related to the nutritional composition of products and therefore cannot be regarded as a healthiness indicator. These results stress the need to develop stricter labelling regulations to protect consumers from misleading information.

Keywords

PackagingLabellingMarketingNutrition claimsHealth claimsHealth-related cues
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 130 , Issue 1 , 14 July 2023 , pp. 174 - 184
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society

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