Polish Consumers' Understanding of Different Front-of-Package Food Labels: A Randomized Experiment

Dietary practices are a key behavioral factor in chronic disease prevention; one strategy for improving such practices population-wise involves front-of-package labels (FoPL). This online randomized study, conducted in a quota-based sample of 1159 Polish adults (mean age = 40.9 +/- 15.4 years), assessed the objective understanding of five FoPL: Health Star Rating, Multiple Traffic Lights, NutriScore, Reference Intakes (RI) and Warning Label. Objective understanding was evaluated by comparing results of two nutritional quality ranking tasks (without/with FoPL) using three food categories (breakfast cereals, cakes, pizza). Associations between FoPL exposure and objective understanding were assessed via multivariable ordinal logistic regression. Compared to RI and across food categories, significant improvement in objective understanding was seen for NutriScore (OR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.41-2.91) and Warning Label (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.12-2.32). In age-stratified analyses, significant improvement in objective understanding compared to RI emerged mainly among adults aged 18-30 years randomized to NutriScore (all food categories: OR = 3.88; 95% CI: 2.04-7.36; cakes: OR = 6.88; 95% CI: 3.05-15.51). Relative to RI, NutriScore was associated with some improvement in objective understanding of FoPL across and within food categories, especially among young adults. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate about an EU-wide FoPL model.

Automated summary

Dietary practices play a crucial role in preventing chronic diseases and using front-of-package labels on food products is an effective strategy to improve these practices. This study found that NutriScore and Warning Label were associated with better objective understanding of the labels compared to Reference Intakes, especially among young adults.