Effects of menu labelling on students food choice: a preliminary study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between nutrition knowledge and grocery store nutrition label use, with using nutrition information disclosure on menu selection in a group of hospitality management students, who shall be responsible for menu labelling in their future careers. Design/methodology/approach A between-subject design included 324 students, who were randomly assigned to choose from a menu labelled as follows: unlabelled; kcal label only; graphical label providing information on the per cent of the recommended daily intake of energy and four nutrients. Their nutrition knowledge and habit of reading grocery store nutrition labels were tested using an additional questionnaire. Findings The results showed that the provision of energy value information resulted in the selection of less energetic, less fat and less salted food, while a graphical label additionally led to the selection of food having a lower saturated fatty acid (SFA) and sugar content. Multiple regression analysis showed that the habit of packaged food nutrition label reading was a significant predictor of choosing food having a lower energy (p<0.001), fat (p<0.001), SFA (p<0.001), sugar (p<0.001) and salt (p=0.003) content, while the influence of nutrition knowledge on food selection was proven insignificant. Originality/value Given the established positive impact of menu labelling, these findings support the future European policy mandating energy and nutrient content disclosure on menus, but also point to the need for more-intense consumer education.