How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts?
Nutrient profiling and front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) have been developed to categorize food products as more or less healthy based on their nutrient content and to easily communicate this information to consumers. The goal is to change individual food choices toward a healthier diet. Since global cl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-02-01
|
| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/5/1176 |
| _version_ | 1797614698188767232 |
|---|---|
| author | Luca Muzzioli Lorenzo Maria Donini Matteo Mazziotta Marco Iosa Francesco Frigerio Eleonora Poggiogalle Andrea Lenzi Alessandro Pinto |
| author_facet | Luca Muzzioli Lorenzo Maria Donini Matteo Mazziotta Marco Iosa Francesco Frigerio Eleonora Poggiogalle Andrea Lenzi Alessandro Pinto |
| author_sort | Luca Muzzioli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nutrient profiling and front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) have been developed to categorize food products as more or less healthy based on their nutrient content and to easily communicate this information to consumers. The goal is to change individual food choices toward a healthier diet. Since global climate change has recently become an urgent matter, this paper also aims to investigate the correlations between different food health scales, including some FOPLs currently adopted by one or more countries, and several sustainability indicators. For this purpose, a food sustainability composite index has been developed to summarize environmental indicators and compare food scales. Results indicate, as expected, that well-known healthy and sustainable diets are strongly correlated with both environmental indicators and the composite index, while FOPLs based on portions or on 100 g show moderate and weak correlation values, respectively. Within-category analysis has not found any associations that explain these results. Hence, 100 g standard, on which FOPLs are usually developed, seems not to be the ideal basis for developing a label that aspires to communicate healthiness and sustainability in a unique format, as required by the need for simple messaging. On the contrary, FOPLs based on portions appear to be more likely to achieve this goal. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:15:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5cbe89413964f04aa67406497fbfcb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:15:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5cbe89413964f04aa67406497fbfcb92023-11-17T08:20:40ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432023-02-01155117610.3390/nu15051176How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts?Luca Muzzioli0Lorenzo Maria Donini1Matteo Mazziotta2Marco Iosa3Francesco Frigerio4Eleonora Poggiogalle5Andrea Lenzi6Alessandro Pinto7Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyItalian National Institute of Statistics, 00184 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyNutrient profiling and front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) have been developed to categorize food products as more or less healthy based on their nutrient content and to easily communicate this information to consumers. The goal is to change individual food choices toward a healthier diet. Since global climate change has recently become an urgent matter, this paper also aims to investigate the correlations between different food health scales, including some FOPLs currently adopted by one or more countries, and several sustainability indicators. For this purpose, a food sustainability composite index has been developed to summarize environmental indicators and compare food scales. Results indicate, as expected, that well-known healthy and sustainable diets are strongly correlated with both environmental indicators and the composite index, while FOPLs based on portions or on 100 g show moderate and weak correlation values, respectively. Within-category analysis has not found any associations that explain these results. Hence, 100 g standard, on which FOPLs are usually developed, seems not to be the ideal basis for developing a label that aspires to communicate healthiness and sustainability in a unique format, as required by the need for simple messaging. On the contrary, FOPLs based on portions appear to be more likely to achieve this goal.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/5/1176front-of-packnutrient profilingFOPLsenvironmental sustainabilityhealthy and sustainable dietsglobal warming |
| spellingShingle | Luca Muzzioli Lorenzo Maria Donini Matteo Mazziotta Marco Iosa Francesco Frigerio Eleonora Poggiogalle Andrea Lenzi Alessandro Pinto How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? Nutrients front-of-pack nutrient profiling FOPLs environmental sustainability healthy and sustainable diets global warming |
| title | How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? |
| title_full | How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? |
| title_fullStr | How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? |
| title_short | How Much Do Front-Of-Pack Labels Correlate with Food Environmental Impacts? |
| title_sort | how much do front of pack labels correlate with food environmental impacts |
| topic | front-of-pack nutrient profiling FOPLs environmental sustainability healthy and sustainable diets global warming |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/5/1176 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lucamuzzioli howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT lorenzomariadonini howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT matteomazziotta howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT marcoiosa howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT francescofrigerio howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT eleonorapoggiogalle howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT andrealenzi howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts AT alessandropinto howmuchdofrontofpacklabelscorrelatewithfoodenvironmentalimpacts |