Truthful yet misleading: a US consumer study of packaging labels

A US study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has found that many people assume “low-fat” products contain less sugar, when in reality the sugar content differs little from that of similar products. The findings were published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.

The researchers conducted online experiments on how information on yoghurt packaging influences perception and purchasing behaviour, with a total of 760 people from the US taking part. The respondents were asked to rate calorie content, sugar content and fat content on a scale of one to seven. They were also asked whether they would buy the product.

“We wanted to find out whether information about a reduced fat content changed the overall perception of a product,” said Dr Steffen Jahn, leader of the study.

Almost all the respondents correctly estimated the lower calorie content of the low-fat yoghurt, but they also believed it contained less sugar than the yoghurt that wasn’t labelled low fat. In the second and third experiment, some of the respondents were shown the low-fat product with the actual nutritional information printed. The group corrected their opinion on the sugar content but their willingness to buy decreased, despite the low-fat yoghurt containing fewer calories. Another group was shown low-fat products without the low-fat label and their purchase intention did not change.

“Many people want to eat healthily but fail to do so for a variety of reasons. The information on food packaging also plays a role in this, as it can bias consumer perceptions,” Jahn said.

For example, cake mixes could be labelled as 97% fat free while they contain 55% sugar.

“Our study shows that consumers can feel deceived by a product because, even though low-fat claims by manufacturers are technically true, a part of the truth is concealed,” Jahn concluded.

Image credit: iStock.com/Drazen Zigic