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The impact of calorie labels on consumer buying behavior in a university dining hall
Author(s) -
Savage Lucy Catherine,
Johnson Rachel K,
Michahelles Marina,
Howard Alan B,
Kolodinsky Jane
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a107
Subject(s) - calorie , nutrition labeling , advertising , consumption (sociology) , food service , obesity , food science , medicine , business , marketing , chemistry , social science , sociology
Objective: The call for mandatory calorie labeling of foods sold in food service establishments (FSEs), currently exempt from the Nutrition Education and Labeling Act, has grown with the continuing obesity trend and increased consumer spending on food bought for consumption outside the home. Research is lacking in this area leaving the impact of calorie labels on consumer buying behaviors unknown. Methods: Subjects were patrons of a large dining hall on the University of Vermont's main campus. The number of sales of unlabeled vs. labeled entrée items were recorded for two weeks; the first without calorie labels and the second with calorie labels. Low, medium and high tertiles were formed based on the entrées’ calorie content. The number of sales of each tertile were calculated as a percentage of each week's total sales, and compared using a paired‐t test in SPSS of the unlabeled and labeled weeks (statistical significance set at p < 0.05). Results: The number of sales per entrée item in the unlabeled vs. labeled week were not different (214 + 265 vs. 203 + 231; p= 0.50). The number of entrée sales in each tertile were not different in the unlabeled vs. labeled week (low: 190 + 214 vs. 142 + 106; p = 0.40; medium: 255 + 290 vs. 260 + 257; p = 0.79; and high: 183 + 290 vs. 183 + 272; p = 0.99). Conclusion: This research showed that calorie labels in a FSE did not modify consumer buying behavior towards lower calorie foods based on aggregate sales data.