Assessing the Effectiveness of Front of Pack Labels: Findings from an Online Randomised-Controlled Experiment in a Representative British Sample

This document describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of front-of-pack labels (FOPLs) on food products in improving consumer understanding and influencing healthier food choices. The policy action aims to address obesity by enhancing dietary quality through better consumer information and product reformulation. The evaluation was conducted through an online experimental study with a representative sample of British adults, using a randomized design to compare different FOPLs. Results indicated that interpretive labels, particularly Nutri-Score (N-S), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), and Warning Labels (WL), significantly improved the ability of participants to correctly rank the healthiness of food products compared to control and Positive Choice tick (PC) groups. The study found that higher education levels were associated with better ranking accuracy, and that familiarity with labels affected consumer understanding. The evaluation concludes that FOPLs, especially interpretive ones like N-S and MTL, can be effective in aiding consumers to make healthier food choices, with implications for future policy decisions in the UK. The research was independently funded and approved by an ethics committee, with data available upon request. **This summary was written by an AI model and therefore should not be considered a definitive summary of the report. If you are aware of inaccuracies, please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.**

Description

• Lead department: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• Evaluation stage: A complete evaluation report
• Other departments: No other departments listed
• Evaluation types: Impact evaluation
• Impact methods: Randomised control trial (RCT)
• RCT methods: No RCT methods listed
• Grant information: This intervention is not distributing funding via a grant
• Government Major Project information: This intervention is not a major project
• Policies: No policies provided

Event Dates

• Event Name: Publication of final results
• Event date: March 2021

Evaluation Costs

• Cost: Not provided

Evaluation sharing

• Link(s) to published report(s): Yes
• Links to evaluation plans: No link provided
• Findings: Not provided
• Permission to share confirmed: Yes