Health claims on packaging: Simplicity and scientific substantiation key for consumers

22 Feb 2019 --- Health and nutrition messaging on packaging should be as simple as possible, as well as scientifically substantiated. This is according to the findings from a 4-year EU-funded research project, CLYMBOL – Role of Health-related Claims and Symbols in Consumer Behavior – which studied consumer understanding of health claims and symbols on packaging. It is hoped that the findings will inform future policy development to align “consumer protection issues as well as public health and food marketing communication interests.”

The CLYMBOL project included more than 20 empirical studies that generated a large number of evidence-based policy and communication recommendations using a three-round Delphi method – an interactive forecasting technique which relies on a panel of experts. All these recommendations have been evaluated by 100 European stakeholders from science, business, government and NGOs to produce a priority list for the successful development of front-of-pack (FOP) labels and health claims.

Public policies are essential vehicles for improving food environments for consumers, the researchers note, and EU legislation exists in regard to the use of health claims and symbols to harmonize their use and to avoid misleading consumers. A range of health symbols are used globally; for example, the Netherlands had used the Choices logo for years, while in Asia, a number of countries also use health logos. Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia have opted for the Healthier Choice Symbol, while the Philippines has introduced its own “Wise Eat” logo and Vietnam has chosen a logo based on the Choices system.

The researchers defined health symbols as “symbols used on foods that fulfill certain nutritional criteria agreed by a set of stakeholders, which expressly indicate a relationship between the food bearing the symbols and health,” Christine Yung Hung, first author and Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium, tells NutritionInsight. “This could be a specific outcome, such as the tooth-friendly logo, or a general health outcome, such as the Choices logo or the Keyhole symbol.” 

“With public health goals in mind, health claims and symbols are expected to support consumers in making more informed and healthier food choices, as well as foster industry competitiveness,” says the study, which was published in Nutrients.

The highest-rated finding was related to consumers’ favorable attitude towards health claims with shorter and less complex messages and health symbols with a visible endorsement.

Meanwhile, there was a clear consensus that health claims need to be scientifically substantiated and credible but phrased without using overly complex scientific wordings, in order to be meaningful for consumers. 

Another interesting finding, according to Yung Hung, was related to the prices for products with health symbols. 

“Although previous studies based on scanner data found that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for products with health symbols, there was a clear consensus that stakeholders did not agree with the recommendation of increasing prices for products with health symbols,” she explains.

Regarding policy, stakeholders from academia and industry believe that efforts should focus on how to improve motivation and interest in healthy eating among consumers. Innovative ways to communicate this importance should be investigated, such as information campaigns.Christine Yung Hung, first author and Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium.

Targeted multi-media campaigns aimed at promoting the use of health symbols could affect the importance consumers ascribe to healthy foods while shopping, for example.

Further tactics could include product reformulation to “change the possible negative association between healthiness and tastiness.”

What about nutrition labels?
Nutrition labels, such as the traffic light system, differ from health symbols as they specify the content of nutrients in a given product but do not communicate any “claim.” In some countries, government regulations for nutrition labeling have been in place for years while others have only recently developed a framework for the provision of nutrition information. In both circumstances, the provision of nutrition information on FOP is becoming an increasingly prominent policy issue. 

Last year, the European Food Information Council’s (EUFIC) 2018 edition of the Global Update on Nutrition Labeling similarly noted that appropriate and meaningful nutritional information should be based on science and take into account consumer use, interpretation and understanding of different labeling schemes. 

The global diversity in nutrition label use is clear, however. In Europe, color-coded schemes may come under consideration in Portugal, Poland and Ireland, while Germany plans to develop an understandable and comparable FOP label, but has not elaborated on the format. 

However, regarding health claim symbols, Yung Hung notes that there was was a limited degree of heterogeneity within the European countries surveyed. “The studied countries often shared similar top- and bottom-three rated health claims. Based on user segmentation, health claim use was higher among consumers from Spain and Greece and lower among consumers from the Netherlands.” 

Earlier this year, Spanish supermarket chain Eroski introduced a handful of own-brand products featuring Nutri-Score labeling. This made Eroski the first distribution company in Spain to incorporate this “advanced nutrition” labeling. The Nutri-Score system classifies foods into five levels, indicated by colored letters – from “A” in dark green to “E” in dark orange. It is calculated on the basis of the calories, the nutrients which are beneficial for our health – fiber, protein, amount of fruit, vegetables, nuts and pulses – and nutrients whose intake should be reduced – saturated fat, salt and sugar – per 100 grams of the product.

The labeling system has been validated by the Ministry of Health and the EU, is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been backed by more than 8,500 Eroski member customers who consider it to be “simple, useful and convenient.” 

The importance of how the nutritional content of foods is communicated via labels to consumers has come under the spotlight in recent years, especially when seemingly healthy products are uncovered as containing high levels of sugar or salt. Policy can continue to inform how to best communicate to consumers via products packaging and studies such as CLYMBOL can potentially advise its formation. 

By Laxmi Haigh