Consumer responses to three nutrition "Front-of-Pack" labeling systems

In an experimental store, we study the behavioral responses of consumers food purchasing and their impact on the nutritional quality of shopping carts for three different front-of-pack nutritional labeling systems, i.e. the Reference Intakes, the multiple Traffic Lights and the new French system 5C. We use an experimental economics framework for observing the change for each participant between a cart done without label and a cart done with one of the three systems. By then comparing cohorts, we measure their relative effectiveness. All three systems improve the nutritional quality, but at a lesser or greater extent. 5C and Traffic lights have a significantly greater nutritional impact than the Reference Intakes. (C) 2016 Societe francaise de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.