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Consumer Accuracy at Identifying Plant-based and Animal-based Milk Items

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Abstract

Are people are product literate enough to make informed decisions about plant-based and animal-based milk products? In 8 studies, we provide evidence that consumers do not make mistakes indicative of pervasive lack of milk product literacy. People were accurate at identifying plant-based and animal-based milk and cheese products as being plant or animal-based (74% - 84% of the time). In a more difficult task, participants were generally accurate at identifying nutritional differences between plant-based and animal-based milk and cheese products (50%–62% accuracy). We also developed the Milk Literacy Scale, which is a 12-item, validated, knowledge-based instrument that measures knowledge of differences among plant-based and animal-based milk products. The Milk Literacy Scale predicted accuracy in both identification tasks. All results were replicated in a large sample (N = 1054). These results suggest that people are generally product literate about milk products to make informed choices. The studies offer some insights into what kinds of interventions would help make people even more product literate.

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Fig. 3

Notes

  1. This same systematic review suggested that nearly 75% of Americans report using nutrition labels at least sometimes when they make a buying decision.

  2. A two-parameter model is different from a 1-parameter model. One-parameter models only estimate item difficulty and assume that the discrimination for each item is the same. Three-parameter models include a pseudo-guessing parameter in addition to estimating difficulty and discrimination that helps to control for people getting items correct simply by guessing (Baker, 2004).

  3. A coding mistake prevented demographic data from being collected in Study 2.

  4. We conducted analyses without excluding participants who straight-lined. As expected, including those participants did not change the results drastically, but they did mute effects making some of the effects more difficult to detect. This pattern is exactly what would be expected given straight-lined responses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Silke Feltz & Adam Feltz

  2. Center for Applied Social Research & Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, 455. W. Lindsey St., Dale Hall Tower, Room 705, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Adam Feltz

Authors
  1. Silke Feltz
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  2. Adam Feltz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adam Feltz.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Items used in Study 1. Correct answer in parentheses. Difficulty and discrimination, respectively, in brackets.

Soy Subscale

  1. 1.

    Whole cow milk has more cholesterol than fortified soy milk. (T) [−9.1, 0.17]

  2. 2.

    Whole cow milk has more protein than fortified soy milk. (F) [−0.23, −1.5]

  3. 3.

    Whole cow milk has more Vitamin C than fortified soy milk. (T) [0.31, 1.62]

  4. 4.

    Whole cow milk has more calories than fortified soy milk (T) [−3.4, 0.5]

  5. 5.

    Whole cow milk has more fat than fortified soy milk. (T) [−4.54, 0.47]

  6. 6.

    Whole cow milk has more fiber than fortified soy milk. (F) [0.44, −1.58]

  7. 7.

    Whole cow milk has more sodium than fortified soy milk. (T) [−0.37, 0.82]

  8. 8.

    Whole cow milk has more iron than fortified soy milk. (F) [−0.03, −2.4]

  9. 9.

    Whole cow milk has more saturated fat than fortified soy milk. (T) [−6.61, 0.3]

  10. 10.

    Whole cow milk has more calcium than fortified soy milk. (T) [−0.33, 1.66]

  11. 11.

    Whole cow milk has more carbohydrates than fortified soy milk. (T) [−0.92, 0.85]

  12. 12.

    Whole cow milk has more lactose than fortified soy milk. (T) [−4.86, 0.29]

  13. 13.

    Cow milk and fortified soy milk have all the same nutrients. (F) [1.63, −0.61]

Milk Subscale

  1. 14.

    Whole cow milk has more protein than skim cow milk. (F) [0.71, 1.48]

  2. 15.

    Whole cow milk has more fat than skim cow milk. (T) [12.85, −0.18]

  3. 16.

    Whole cow milk has more calories than skim cow milk. (T) [14.22, −0.18]

  4. 17.

    Whole cow milk has more calcium than skim cow milk. (F) [0.36, 2.62]

  5. 18.

    Whole cow milk has more Vitamin C than skim cow milk. (F) [−0.19, 2.36]

  6. 19.

    Whole cow milk has more sodium than skim cow milk. (F) [0.26, 1.59]

  7. 20.

    Whole cow milk has more fiber than skim cow milk. (F) [0.4, 2.11]

  8. 21.

    Whole cow milk has more cholesterol than skim cow milk. (F) [2.71, 0.81]

  9. 22.

    Whole cow milk has more iron than skim cow milk. (F) [0.39, 2.11]

  10. 23.

    Fortified soy milk is made with some cow milk. (F) -1.51, 0.62]

Appendix 2

Items used in Studies 2. Items removed from Studies 3–8 in italics.

Soy Subscale

  1. 1.

    Whole cow milk has more Vitamin C than fortified soy milk. (T)

  2. 2.

    Whole cow milk has more calories than fortified soy milk (T)

  3. 3.

    Whole cow milk has more fat than fortified soy milk. (T)

  4. 4.

    Whole cow milk has more sodium than fortified soy milk. (T)

  5. 5.

    Whole cow milk has less saturated fat than fortified soy milk. (F)

  6. 6.

    Whole cow milk less more calcium than fortified soy milk. (F)

  7. 7.

    Whole cow milk has fewer carbohydrates than fortified soy milk. (F)

  8. 8.

    Whole cow milk has less lactose than fortified soy milk. (F)

Milk Subscale

  1. 9.

    Whole cow milk has more protein than skim cow milk. (F)

  2. 10.

    Whole cow milk has more calcium than skim cow milk. (F)

  3. 11.

    Whole cow milk has more Vitamin C than skim cow milk. (F)

  4. 12.

    Whole cow milk has more sodium than skim cow milk. (F)

  5. 13.

    Whole cow milk has more fiber than skim cow milk. (F)

  6. 14.

    Whole cow milk has more cholesterol than skim cow milk. (F)

  7. 15.

    Whole cow milk has more iron than skim cow milk. (F)

  8. 16.

    Fortified soy milk is made with some cow milk. (F)

Appendix 3

Sample Product Identification Milk Items

figure a

Sample Product Identification Cheese Items

figure b

Milk Nutrition Identification Items

figure c

Cheese Nutrition Identification Items

figure d

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Feltz, S., Feltz, A. Consumer Accuracy at Identifying Plant-based and Animal-based Milk Items. Food ethics 4, 85–112 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-019-00051-7

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