Food reformulation and nutritional quality of food consumption: an analysis based on households panel data in France

Published online: 22 December 2017We aimed to quantify the contribution of food reformulation to changes in the nutritional quality of consumers’ food purchases, and compare it with the impact of substitutions made by consumers.Using a brand-specific data set in France, we considered the changes in the nutrient content of food products in four food sectors over a 3-year period. These data were matched with data on consumers’ purchases to estimate the change in the nutritional quality of consumers’ purchases. This change was divided into three components: the reformulation of food products, the launching of new products and the consumers’ substitutions between products. Key nutrients were selected for each food group: breakfast cereals (sugar, fats, SFA, fiber, and sodium), biscuits and cakes (sugar, fats, SFA, and fiber), potato chips (fats, SFA, and sodium) and soft drinks (sugar).Product reformulation initiatives have improved existing products for most food group-nutrient pairs. In particular, the contribution of food reformulation to the change in nutritional quality of food purchases was strong in potato chips (the sales-weighted mean SFA and sodium contents decreased by 31.4% to 52.1% and 6.7% to 11.1%, respectively), and breakfast cereals (the sales-weighted mean sodium content decreased by 7.3% to 9.7%). Regarding the launching of new products, the results were ambiguous. Consumers’ substitutions between food items were not generally associated to an improvement in the nutritional quality of the food purchases.Policies aiming to promote food reformulation may have greater impact than those promoting changes in consumer behavior

Réforme de l'OCM sucre : impact sur la demande en matières sucrantes des IAA

National audienceLa réforme de l’OCM sucre, décidée en 2005, a pour objectif d’adapter la capacité de production de sucre communautaire en privilégiant l’arrêt des producteurs les moins compétitifs. Parmi les dispositions adoptées, la suppression du prix d’intervention remplacé par un prix de référence devrait engendrer une baisse significative du prix du sucre (-36%) sur une période de 4 ans pour atteindre 404€/t environ en 2010. Ce document montre que la baisse du prix de cet ingrédient pourrait augmenter sa compétitivité par rapport aux autres édulcorants utilisés dans les IAA et modifier fortement la structure de la demande en matières sucrantes des IAA. Au total, même si la consommation d’édulcorants caloriques serait légèrement réduite, la consommation de sucres simples ajoutés augmenterait, ce qui va à l’encontre d’une des recommandations du PNNS

Can improving a biscuit's nutritional characteristics be compatible with maintaining it sensory quality?

Poster (1 page) ; http://www.pangborn2013.com/International audienceAuthorities encourage people to reduce fat and sugar consumption in public campaigns such as the National Nutritional Health Program in France. French producers are also encouraged to improve the nutritional composition of well-known commercial products by reducing fat and/or sugar contents. The objective of our study was to determine whether it was possible to do so while maintaining the sensory quality of the reformulated products. The study dealt with the impact of fat and sugar reduction on liking and sensory perception of 6 types of French commercial biscuits and cakes. For each type of product, one example of the French market was studied. Results show that fat- or sugar-reduced biscuits are mainly less appreciated than standard ones when they are perceived as less sweet. Besides, results depend on products. Oqali, the nutritional section of the French food observatory, records the nutritional composition of most food items from the French market in a given set of food categories, including the biscuit one. Thus, for each type of biscuits of our study, plots were produced with the levels of fat and sugar content of most biscuits from the French market. Products from our study were superimposed on these plots in order to define a limit of fat and/or sugar reduction above which liking would be significantly deteriorated. This limit underlines that it is not possible to reduce fat and sugar content on biscuits endlessly and that product taste should always be taken into account when reformulating. It is then interesting to assess for each biscuit type where the current offer of the market is located relatively to this limit. This information could be used by the food industry to foresee if they could improve the nutritional quality of their products while maintaining their sensory quality

Reformulation and taxes for healthier consumption: Empirical evidence in the French Dessert market

Many countries have implemented the taxation of unhealthy food. Facing such a tax, firms can adapt their pricing strategy and modify the characteristics of their products. There are, so far, only a few ex-ante analyses of the impact of taxes on consumption that endogenize the price response of firms to the tax policy. However, none of them takes into account the possibility for firms to modify the characteristics of a product. In this paper, we propose an ex-ante evaluation of the effects of a tax that targets products high in caloric sweeteners on key market outcomes, by integrating not only the strategic price reactions of firms, but also the exogenous changes in a product’s nutritional composition. We develop a structural econometric model that integrates the consumer’s substitution patterns between products, accounts for competition between firms, and integrates the possibility for firms to modify the characteristics of a product in response to taxation. Using household scanner data from the French dessert market, we show that ignoring how firms might react to a tax policy leads to a significant underestimation of the potential impact of taxation on the consumption of taxed nutrients. In our case, we show that ignoring the combined effect of strategic price reactions and product reformulation leads to the impact of the tax on the intake of the taxed nutrient being underestimated by 44%. From a policy-oriented perspective, we conclude that a taxation scheme should be designed to favor product reformulation by firms

Réforme de l'OCM sucre : impact sur la demande en matières sucrantes des IAA

Contribution à la journée INRA-SAE2 sur le programme ANR (ANR-05-PNRA-012-01) : Politiques nutritionnelles, régulation des filières et consommation alimentaire.National audienceLa réforme de l’OCM sucre, décidée en 2005, a pour objectif d’adapter la capacité de production de sucre communautaire en privilégiant l’arrêt des producteurs les moins compétitifs. Parmi les dispositions adoptées, la suppression du prix d’intervention remplacé par un prix de référence devrait engendrer une baisse significative du prix du sucre (-36%) sur une période de 4 ans pour atteindre 404€/t environ en 2010. Ce document montre que la baisse du prix de cet ingrédient pourrait augmenter sa compétitivité par rapport aux autres édulcorants utilisés dans les IAA et modifier fortement la structure de la demande en matières sucrantes des IAA. Au total, même si la consommation d’édulcorants caloriques serait légèrement réduite, la consommation de sucres simples ajoutés augmenterait, ce qui va à l’encontre d’une des recommandations du PNNS

To what extent the improvement of nutritional quality of foods contribute to public health goals?

International audienceBackground: In confronting the problem of chronic diseases linked to food consumption, several strategies for improving dietary practices can be introduced by health policy makers. One of the possible levers is to regulate the nutritional quality of food supply by encouraging product reformulation. Objectives: This study aims to assess the potential contribution of improving the nutritional quality of processed foods on individuals’ nutritional intake and food supply. Data: The French Observatory of Food Quality database(Oqali), a nutritional composition database on branded products, was matched with two consumption databases: TNS Kantar Worldpanel, which provides details on quantities bought and food expenditures and INCA 2, an individuals’ food consumption survey completed by the French Food Safety Agency. Three food groups were considered: breakfast cereals (355 items in 2008), biscuits and pastries (1805 items in 2008), and bread-based products (620 items in 2009). Methods: Variability in food composition within food categories has been used to elaborate three scenarios of nutritional improvement: food items with the lowest nutritional quality were modified to three different levels to improve the overall level of quality in a given category. This ensures that simulated reformulations are technologically feasible and are acceptable to consumers from a sensory point of view. First, quantities of sugars, fat, fibre and sodium delivered to the French market through breakfast cereals, biscuits, pastries and bread-based products were calculated for each scenario. Second, the distribution of individuals’ nutrient consumption from the three food groups among the French population was assessed. Results: These scenarios generated important decreases in the amounts of sugars (between -1.8% and -9.7% from scenario 1 to scenario 3, in comparison with the current situation), fat (between -1.6% and -9.0%) and sodium (between -2.8% and -15.4%) and an increase in the amount of fibre (between +1.5% and +19.4%) delivered to the market

Improvement of the nutritional quality of foods as a public health tool

International audienceObjectives: To assess the potential contribution of improving the nutritional quality of processed foods on individuals’ nutritional intake and food supply. This paper also discusses the means to encourage firms to implement these reformulations, particularly in public/private partnerships. Study design: The French Observatory of Food Quality was created by the Government for the quantification and follow-up of food reformulation by the food industry. This nutritional composition database on branded products was matched with two consumption databases: TNS Kantar Worldpanel, which provides details on quantities bought and food expenditures; and INCA 2, an individuals’ food consumption survey completed by the French Food Safety Agency. Three food groups were considered: breakfast cereals (355 items in 2008), biscuits and pastries (1805 items in 2008), and bread-based products (620 items in 2009). Methods: First, the variability in nutrient composition within food categories was determined, which made it possible to consider several food composition modification scenarios within each category. The formulation of the food items with the lowest nutritional quality was modified to three different levels to improve the overall level of quality in a given category. Second, the quantities of sugars, fat, fibre and sodium delivered to the French market through breakfast cereals, biscuits, pastries and bread-based products were calculated for each scenario. Finally, the distribution of individuals’ nutrient consumption from the three food groups among the French population was assessed. Results: These scenarios generated important improvements of 1–22% (increase in the amount of fibre or decrease in the amounts of sugars, fat and sodium delivered to the market), depending on the scenario, the food group and the nutrient considered. Improvement of the products with the lowest nutritional quality would also lead to significant variation in individuals’ nutrient consumption for the average adult and child consumers of the three groups (range 4.2–18.8%, depending on the scenario, the food group and the nutrient considered). Conclusion: Encouraging the reformulation of foods, especially for products with the lowest nutritional quality in each category of processed foods, is a worthy target for health policy makers. The methodology presented in this paper provides information for negotiations between policy makers and firms to quantify commitments in terms of their potential impacts on individuals’ nutrient intake, and to check that the firms’ commitments are actually met

To what extent can food nutritional quality improvement allow public health goals to be reached?

International audienc

To what extent can food nutritional quality improvement allow public health goals to be reached?

International audienc