Effects of Digital Food Labels on Healthy Food Choices in Online Grocery Shopping

Fuchs K, Lian J, Michels L, Mayer S, Toniato E, Tiefenbeck V (2022)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Nutrients MDPI

Book Volume: 14

Journal Issue: 10

DOI: 10.3390/nu14102044

Open Access Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/10/2044

Abstract

In order to induce the shift in consumer behavior necessary for the mitigation of diet-related diseases, front-of-package labels (FoPL) such as the Nutri-Score that support consumers in their efforts to identify nutritionally valuable products during grocery shopping have been found to be effective; however, they remain non-compulsory in most regions. Counter-intuitively, a similar stream of research on digital web-based FoPL does not yet exist, even though such digital labels hold several advantages over physical labels. Digital FoPL can provide scalable and personalized interventions, are easier to implement than physical labels, and are especially timely due to the recent increase in online grocery shopping. The goal of this study was to demonstrate the technical feasibility and intervention potential of novel, scalable, and passively triggered health behavior interventions distributed via easy-to-install web browser extensions designed to support healthy food choices via the inclusion of digital FoPL in online supermarkets. To that end, we developed a Chrome web browser extension for a real online supermarket and evaluated the effect of this digital food label intervention (i.e., display of the Nutri-Score next to visible products) on the nutritional quality of individuals’ weekly grocery shopping in a randomized controlled laboratory trial (N = 135). Compared to the control group, individuals exposed to the intervention chose products with a higher nutritional quality (e.g., 8% higher healthy trolley index (HETI), 3.3% less sugar, 7.5% less saturated fat). In particular, users with low food literacy seemed to benefit from the digital FoPL (e.g., 11% higher HETI, 10.5% less sugar, 5.5% less saturated fat). Furthermore, participants exposed to the food label advocated its introduction more strongly than the control group (p = 0.081). Consumers worldwide could easily install such applications to display digital food labels on their end devices, and would thus not have to wait for stakeholders in the food industry to eventually reach consensus on mandatory food label introduction.

Authors with CRIS profile

Leonard Michels Juniorprofessur für Digitale Transformation Verena Tiefenbeck Juniorprofessur für Digitale Transformation

Related research project(s)

Digitales Nudging und persuasives Design im Software-Kontext (DiNuPeDeS) Software Campus 2.0 Feb. 1, 2021 - Jan. 31, 2023

Involved external institutions

Universität St.Gallen CH Switzerland (CH) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich CH Switzerland (CH)

How to cite

APA:

Fuchs, K., Lian, J., Michels, L., Mayer, S., Toniato, E., & Tiefenbeck, V. (2022). Effects of Digital Food Labels on Healthy Food Choices in Online Grocery Shopping. Nutrients, 14(10). https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14102044

MLA:

Fuchs, Klaus, et al. "Effects of Digital Food Labels on Healthy Food Choices in Online Grocery Shopping." Nutrients 14.10 (2022).

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