The effects of combining front-of-pack nutritional labels on consumers' subjective understanding, trust, and preferences

The decision to adopt a unique mandatory front-of-pack nutritional label (FOPL) has currently been delayed by the European Union (EU) as contrasting evidence exists on which one might consistently better encourage customers toward healthier diets. In this context, little attention has been dedicated to investigating the potential effects of having more than one front-of-pack nutritional label on food products. This study aims to verify if a combination of front-of-pack nutritional labels (i.e., a "bundle") performs better for consumer understanding, trust, and preferences (such as liking) toward the label by helping consumers make healthier and more informed food choices. With this in mind, the study focused on three front-of-pack nutritional labels developed by public institutions that are central to the research and the recent EU policy-making debate. In three controlled experiments, building upon the "directiveness" front-of-pack nutritional label schemes, we find that the combination of a nondirective (i.e., NutrInform Battery) and a directive (i.e., Keyhole) label outperforms both the combination of two directive labels (i.e., Nutri-Score and Keyhole) and a single-directive front-of-pack nutritional label (i.e., Keyhole) on subjective understanding, trust in the label and liking. Results cast light on the bundling of front-of-pack nutritional labels as a potentially different approach that might be further analyzed by researchers and provide a substantive contribution to managers and policy-makers in their decision toward a unified front-of-pack nutritional label within the European Community.