Is purchasing of vegetable dishes affected by organic or local labels? Empirical evidence from a university canteen

Previous studies have shown that the use of labels such as organic or local may improve the perceived healthiness, attractiveness and taste evaluation of healthy food products and increase their likelihood of being purchased. The aim of this work was to examine whether labeling vegetable items could promote consumption of at least one vegetable dish among students in a university canteen. We analyzed the purchasing of vegetable dishes among 458 students during an eight-week intervention in a university canteen, where vegetable items alternatively received neutral, organic and local labels. We implemented a multilevel Bayesian analysis to incorporate prior knowledge extracted from data preceding the experiment and to account for potential confounders related to the design of the experiment. Our results suggest that the labels organic, local organic & local were not strongly associated with ordering at least one vegetable plate. Additional studies are warranted to further investigate the potential impact of vegetable plate labeling on customers' purchasing choices.

Automated summary

Previous studies have shown that labels such as organic or local may increase the perceived healthiness, attractiveness, and taste evaluation of healthy food products, thus increasing their likelihood of being purchased. This study aimed to investigate whether labeling vegetable items could promote the consumption of at least one vegetable dish among students in a university canteen. The results suggested that the labels organic, local, and organic & local were not strongly associated with ordering at least one vegetable plate.