Do consumers value nutritional labels?

The European Union is contemplating making the provision of nutritional labels in food products mandatory. Using data collected from food shoppers, we assessed consumers' valuation of nutritional labels by analysing their willingness to pay a premium for a box of cookies with a nutritional label. On average, the mean willingness to pay (WTP) for a box of cookies with a nutritional label is estimated to be about 11 per cent above the price of the box of cookies without a nutritional label. Consistent with prior expectations, our results also indicate a difference between the WTP of individuals suffering from diet-related health problems (estimated mean 13 per cent) and those who do not suffer any diet-related health problems (estimated mean 9 per cent).