Public Health Nutrition: page 1 of 10 doi:10.1017/S1368980012000754 Review Article The science on front-of-package food labels

Abstract

Objective: The US Food and Drug Administration and Institute of Medicine are currently investigating front-of-package (FOP) food labelling systems to provide sciencebased guidance to the food industry. The present paper reviews the literature on FOP labelling and supermarket shelf-labelling systems published or under review by February 2011 to inform current investigations and identify areas of future research. Design: A structured search was undertaken of research studies on consumer use, understanding of, preference for, perception of and behaviours relating to FOP/ shelf labelling published between January 2004 and February 2011. Results: Twenty-eight studies from a structured search met inclusion criteria. Reviewed studies examined consumer preferences, understanding and use of different labelling systems as well as label impact on purchasing patterns and industry product reformulation. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the Multiple Traffic Light system has most consistently helped consumers identify healthier products; however, additional research on different labelling systems ’ abilities to influence consumer behaviour is needed. In May 2010 the White House Childhood Obesity Task Force highlighted the need to ‘empower parents and caregivers to make healthy choices ’ with simple, practical information, including improved front-of-package (FOP) food labels (1). Currently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has undertaken a Front-of-Package Labeling Initiative (2) with the goal of reviewing available evidence on FOP labelling systems to determine whether one approach can be recommended over others. Congress also requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examine this issue and in October 2010 the Committee o