Member Article

Food labelling system set to influence consumer behaviour

New research from business and financial advisory firm the Grant Thornton Northern Food Group has revealed that the Government’s new food nutritional labelling system is likely to influence consumer buying behaviour.

Over three quarters (76%) of those polled nationally said that a government-endorsed front-of-pack nutritional label would potentially influence them to buy fewer products with a high fat, calorie, salt or sugar content.

However, in Yorkshire and the Humber, the figure was considerably lower at just 41%.

Under the new Government scheme, front-of-packet labels will combine the energy value, nutritional information on fat, saturates, salt, and sugar and a traffic-light colour-coding, which relates to a person’s ‘reference intakes’ (formerly known as Guideline Daily Amounts), including the option to use the words ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ relating to those.

Currently, there are a variety of labelling systems and it has been argued that this has led to a confused and inconsistent nutrition labelling system, which insufficiently supports the government’s health agenda.

The findings, taken for a survey of 1,000 UK consumers, also revealed that almost half of respondents (49%) in Yorkshire and the Humber (54% nationally) would prefer a government-endorsed front of pack food nutritional labelling scheme over one chosen by food companies and retailers.

Across the UK, consumers aged 55 and over were least likely to be influenced in their buying patterns by a government-endorsed front of pack nutritional label. Nearly a third (30%) said it would not influence them to buy fewer ‘unhealthy’ products, compared to just 18% of 25-34 year olds.

Bridie Robinson, associate director at Grant Thornton in Leeds and head of the firm’s Northern Good Group, comments: “While not every food category will see the same impact on consumer buying behaviour as a result of the new food labelling system, businesses in the food and beverage sector will need to pay close attention and be ready to react if consumers do start to adjust their buying habits.

“The changes could also have important ramifications for how businesses develop future products and how these are marketed; so it is really important that businesses in the food and beverage sector take the time to assess this as part of their plans for growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .