IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersrr/56466.html

The Decline in Consumer Use of Food Nutrition Labels, 1995-2006

Author

Listed:
  • Todd, Jessica E.
  • Variyam, Jayachandran N.

Abstract

This report examines changes in consumers’ use of nutrition labels on food packages between 1995-96 and 2005-06. The analysis finds that, although a majority of consumers report using nutrition labels when buying food, use has declined for most label components, including the Nutrition Facts panel and information about calories, fats, cholesterol, and sodium. By contrast, use of fiber information has increased. The decline in label use is particularly marked for the cohort of adults less than 30 years old.

Suggested Citation

  • Todd, Jessica E. & Variyam, Jayachandran N., 2008. "The Decline in Consumer Use of Food Nutrition Labels, 1995-2006," Economic Research Report 56466, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:56466
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.56466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/56466/files/ERR63.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.56466?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2005. "Nutrition knowledge and consumer use of nutritional food labels," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 32(1), pages 93-118, March.
    2. Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 1996. "Determinants Of Consumers' Use Of Nutritional Information On Food Packages," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Kristal, A.R. & Levy, L. & Patterson, R.E. & Li, S.S. & White, E., 1998. "Trends in food label use associated with new nutrition labeling regulations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(8), pages 1212-1215.
    4. Martinez, Stephen W., 2007. "Food Product Introductions Continue To Set Records," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-1, November.
    5. Kim, Sung-Yong & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr. & Capps, Oral, Jr., 2000. "The Effect Of Food Label Use On Nutrient Intakes: An Endogenous Switching Regression Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 25(01), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 1996. "Determinants Of Consumers' Use Of Nutritional Information On Food Packages," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zeballos, Eliana & Anekwe, Tobenna D., 2018. "The Association Between Nutrition Information Use and the Healthfulness of Food Acquisitions," Economic Research Report 276241, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Banterle, Alessandro & Cavaliere, Alessia & Ricci, Elena Claire, 2012. "Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences," 2012 International European Forum, February 13-17, 2012, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 144960, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    3. Liu, Xiaoou & Lopez, Rigoberto & Zhu, Chen, 2015. "Can Voluntary Nutrition Labeling Lead to a Healthier Food Market?," 2016 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 3-5, 2016, San Francisco, California 212818, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Zhu, Chen & Huang, Rui, "undated". "Heterogeneity in Consumer Responses to Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels: Evidence from a Natural Experiment?," Working Paper series 170016, University of Connecticut, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    5. Mancino, Lisa & Todd, Jessica E. & Lin, Biing-Hwan, 2009. "Food Away From Home: How much does it really influence diet quality?," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49251, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Manoj Hastak & Anusree Mitra & Debra J. Ringold, 2020. "Do consumers view the nutrition facts panel when making healthfulness assessments of food products? Antecedents and consequences," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 395-416, June.
    7. Sundstrom, W.A. & McIntyre, S. & Baker, G.A. & Avants, B., . "Bearers of Bad New: Heterogeneous Effects of Alternative Front-of-Package Labeling Schemes for Nutritional Information," Journal of Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, vol. 38(01).
    8. Chen Zhen & Xiaoyong Zheng, 2020. "The Impact of NuVal Shelf Nutrition Labels on Food Purchase," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 870-887, December.
    9. Stranieri, Stefanella & Banterle, Alessandro, . "Consumer Interest in Meat Labelled Attributes: Who Cares?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18.
    10. Stefanella Stranieri & Lucia Baldi & Alessandro Banterle, 2010. "Do Nutrition Claims Matter to Consumers? An Empirical Analysis Considering European Requirements," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 15-33, February.
    11. Todd, Jessica E., "undated". "Changes in Eating Patterns and Diet Quality Among Working-Age Adults, 2005-2010," Economic Research Report 262214, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Kiesel, Kristin & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2013. "Can information costs affect consumer choice? Nutritional labels in a supermarket experiment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-163.
    13. Kiesel, Kristin & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2009. "Can Information Costs Confuse Consumer Choice?---Nutritional Labels in a Supermarket Experiment," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt6st6d0rr, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    14. Boysen, Ole & Bradford, Harvey & Boysen-Urban, Kirsten & Balie, Jean, "undated". "Taxing Highly Processed Foods: Impacts On Obesity And Underweight In Sub-Saharan Africa," 58th Annual Conference, Kiel, Germany, September 12-14, 2018 275849, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stranieri, Stefanella & Banterle, Alessandro, . "Consumer Interest in Meat Labelled Attributes: Who Cares?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18.
    2. Stefanella Stranieri & Lucia Baldi & Alessandro Banterle, 2010. "Do Nutrition Claims Matter to Consumers? An Empirical Analysis Considering European Requirements," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 15-33, February.
    3. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr, 2009. "On Consumers' Valuation Of Nutrition Information," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 223-247, July.
    4. Bonanno, Alessandro & Bimbo, Francesco & Cleary, Rebecca & Castellari, Elena, 2018. "Food labels and adult BMI in Italy – An unconditional quantile regression approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 199-211.
    5. Gracia, Azucena & Loureiro, Maria & Nayga, Rodolfo Jr., 2007. "Do consumers perceive benefits from the implementation of a EU mandatory nutritional labelling program?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 160-174, April.
    6. Tiziana DE MAGISTRIS & Azucena GRACIA & Jesús BARREIRO-HURLÉ, 2010. "Effects of the nutritional labels use on healthy eating habits in Spain," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 56(11), pages 540-551.
    7. Bazzani, Claudia & Scarpa, Riccardo & Begalli, Diego & Capitello, Roberta, 2025. "Reporting nutritional information on wine packaging: Does it affect consumers’ choices? Evidence from a choice experiment in Italy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    8. Berning, Joshua P. & Chouinard, Hayley H. & Manning, Kenneth C. & McCluskey, Jill J. & Sprott, David E., 2010. "Identifying consumer preferences for nutrition information on grocery store shelf labels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 429-436, October.
    9. Linda Thunström & Jonas Nordström & Jason F. Shogren & Mariah Ehmke & Klaas Veld, 2016. "Strategic self-ignorance," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 117-136, April.
    10. Banterle, Alessandro & Ricci, Elena Claire, 2013. "Does the Sustainability of Food Products Influence Consumer Choices? The Case of Italy," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 4(2), pages 1-10, November.
    11. Melo, Grace & Zhen, Chen & Colson, Greg, 2019. "Does point-of-sale nutrition information improve the nutritional quality of food choices?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 133-143.
    12. Drichoutis, Andreas C. & Lazaridis, Panagiotis & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 2006. "Nutritional food label use: A theoretical and empirical perspective," 98th Seminar, June 29-July 2, 2006, Chania, Crete, Greece 10033, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Alessandro Banterle & Stefanella Stranieri, 2008. "Information, labelling, and vertical coordination: an analysis of the Italian meat supply networks," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 320-331.
    14. D. Fang & R. M. Nayga & H. A. Snell & G. H. West & C. Bazzani, 2019. "Evaluating USA’s New Nutrition and Supplement Facts Label: Evidence from a Non-hypothetical Choice Experiment," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 545-562, December.
    15. Kim, Sung-Yong & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Capps, Oral, 2001. "Health Knowledge and Consumer Use of Nutritional Labels: The Issue Revisited," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 10-19, April.
    16. Priscilla Cecilia Affram & Sarah Darkwa, 2015. "Consumers` knowledge, understanding and use of food label information, and how it affects purchasing decision in ho, Ghana," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(3), pages 24-39, March.
    17. Fichera, Eleonora & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2020. "The response to nutritional labels: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Adu-Nyako, Kofi & Kunda, Danny & Ralston, Katherine L., 2003. "Safe Handling Labels And Consumer Behavior In The Southern Us," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 21925, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    19. Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 1999. "Toward An Understanding Of Consumers' Perceptions Of Food Labels," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 2(01), pages 1-17.
    20. Barreiro-Hurlé, Jesús & Gracia, Azucena & de-Magistris, Tiziana, 2010. "Does nutrition information on food products lead to healthier food choices?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 221-229, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:56466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.