Making Healthier Choices Easier

1
Making Healthier Choices Easier

• Rosemary Hignett
• 4th International Consumer Science Research
  Conference
• 24 June 2009

2
Why the Need for Front of Pack Signpost Labelling?
Improve UK Diet and Health
What
Making healthier eating easier
How

• Approximately 80 of UK companies already provide
  some back of pack nutrition labelling on a
  voluntary basis
• Yet UK consumers still find current nutritional
  labelling difficult to use and wanted an easier
  "at a glance" system of labelling
• Source Nutrition Labelling research report, FSA,
  Nov 2001.

Influencing products
Influencing people
Influencing the environment
Providing healthier choices
Remove barriers to healthier choices
Making healthier choices easier
Activity
Reformulation Portion size Folate
Labelling Promotion of food to kids (DH
lead) Activity in schools (Ed deps lead)
Skills/ Knowledge Campaigns
Surveys
Evaluation
Research
Expert Advice
3
Reducing salt intakes
Intake 8.1g/day
Intake 11g/day
Intake 6.1g/day
Around 75 of the salt we eat is already in the
foods we buy
4
Action to reduce salt intake

• Three pronged approach
• Reformulation of foods by retailers,
  manufacturers and caterers
• Increase consumer awareness
• Improved nutrition labelling

5
Salt Targets

• First set in 2006 for gt80 food categories, to be
  met by 2010.
• Reviewed in 2008. Some adjustments to 2010
  targets. New targets for 2012.
• Biennial review of progress alongside revised
  proposals for data collection.

6
Industry Progress

• Breakfast Cereals - 43
• Prepacked sliced bread - over 30
• Cook - in pasta and pasta sauces over 30 Soups
  over 25
• Cakes and Biscuit - 16 -50 - some top selling
  cakes and biscuits (2006 - 2007)
• 13 standard crisps 32 extruded 27 pelleted
  snacks in 2007 alone.

7
What Next?
8
Impact of campaign to date
Number of consumers cutting down on salt has
increased by over one-third
10 fold increase in awareness of the 6g a day
message
A 50 increase in those who look at the label to
find out the salt content
Number of consumers trying to cut down on salt
by checking labels has doubled
9
(No Transcript)
10
Time Line of Salt Intake
11
Why the Need for Front of Pack Signpost Labelling?

• For many years UK has had a high level of back of
  pack nutrition labelling
• Yet many UK consumers still find this information
  difficult to find, read and use and want a more
  prominent "at a glance" approach

12
Independent Signpost Labelling Evaluation
Objective to evaluate the impact of front of
pack signpost labelling schemes on purchasing
behaviour and consumer knowledge Aim to
establish which front of pack labelling
scheme(s), or which combination of elements of
schemes, best facilitate the accurate
interpretation of key nutritional information by
consumers such that they are enabled to make
informed choices about the foods they purchase.
Traffic lights
Colour coded GDA

Monochrome GDA
13
Project set up

• Management
• Independent Project Management Panel (PMP)
• members nominated by a high-level steering group
• Contractors
• BMRB Social Research
• Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research
  Centre, University of Surrey.
• Input from stakeholders
• High level stakeholder group
• Advisory Group
• Funding, PMP Secretariat and technical input
• FSA

14

Project Overview
15
FOP labels used by

• Generally health conscious
• Interested in healthy eating (apart from those
  who were confident they knew what was healthy)
• Trying to lose weight
• Specific health issues (e.g. heart condition)
• Shopping for children

16
Factors influencing purchases

• FOP labels valued by those who use them, but they
  compete with other factors when decisions are
  being made
• These include
• Price
• Brand loyalty/regular purchases
• Healthy range information, nutrition claims
• Organic
• Look of product itself

17
Who has difficulty with labels?

• All FOP labels were less easily understood by
  people who
• were older (65)
• had lower levels of educational attainment
• were from social classes C2,D,E
• (were from certain minority ethnic groups)

18
Conclusions

• The strongest labels are those which include
  High, Medium, Low TL GDA (the integrated
  FOP label)
• The coexistence of a range of FOP label formats
  causes difficulty for shoppers

19
Next Steps

• Move towards single scheme
• Discuss how best to achieve this

20
Eating Out of Home

• 1 in 6 meals is eaten out of home
• Men derive a quarter of their energy women a
  fifth
• 32 of household food expenditure
• A meal out typically contributes more energy, fat
  and salt than meals consumed in the home
• No longer a rare treat - part of our everyday
  diet
• Essential that the Agency engages with the full
  breadth of the food industry

21
title
Independent 21/11/08
22

• Objective
• Clear, simple and effective nutrition information
  to
• consumers
• Voluntary
• Practical
• Enforceable

23

• Launch of work at Stakeholder meeting on
• 15 January
• Working with Stakeholder Advisory Group
• - industry, trade bodies, enforcement,
  consumer and health groups
• Working with trailblazers
• - businesses who can provide the information
  in outlets by June
• - list of 18 businesses published early April
  (2 others subsequently joined)
• Independent researchers will evaluate impact on
  both
• businesses and consumers over summer, then we
• will roll out

24
Menu Board
25
Next Steps

• Assess consumer experience
• Evaluate cost impact
• Roll out

26
Summary

• Government role in supporting healthier choices
• Consumer research a key input
• Academic/market research partnerships

27
Contact Us

• www.food.gov.uk
• www.eatwell.gov.uk
• rosemary.hignett_at_foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk