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Are Front of Pack Claims Indicators of Nutrition Quality? Evidence from 2 Product Categories
Author(s) -
Schaefer Debra,
Hooker Neal H.,
Stanton John L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/1750-3841.13150
Subject(s) - nutrition facts label , multinomial logistic regression , quality (philosophy) , product (mathematics) , health claims on food labels , front (military) , logistic regression , nutrient , environmental health , food products , marketing , food science , business , medicine , statistics , mathematics , biology , geography , philosophy , geometry , epistemology , ecology , meteorology
American grocery shoppers face an array of front of pack (FOP) nutrition and health claims when making food selections. Such systems have been categorized as summary or nutrient specific. Either type should help consumers make judgments about the nutrition quality of a product. This research tests if the type or quantity of FOP claims are indeed good indicators of objective nutrition quality. Claim and nutrition information from more than 2200 breakfast cereals and prepared meals launched between 2006 and 2010 were analyzed using binary and multinomial logistic regression models. Results suggest that no type or number of front of pack claims could distinguish “healthy” foods. However, some types and frequencies of FOP claims were significant predictors of higher or lower levels of certain key nutrients. Given the complex and crowded label environment in which these FOP claims reside, one may be concerned that such cues are not closely related to objective measures of nutrition quality.