New label, new target group? The case of the organic label and the Nutri-Score

Abstract  

The organic label and the Nutri-Score represent important aspects of a sustainable nutrition. In Europe, the organic label is well established. The Nutri-Score is newly introduced in Germany, but in France, it can be on foods since 2017. Therefore, the aim of this online survey was to identify the extent to which the two labels share a target group or address different target groups in Germany. The dataset consists of 614 participants. Latent profile analysis was used to analyze the data. The results show that four different target groups exist. The first (8.3%) is clearly uninterested in food labels, the second (27.0%) is skeptical about organic foods, and the third (54.9%) is the large mainstream. The fourth one is the core target group (9.8%) because its members value both the organic label and the Nutri-Score. If organic manufacturers and retailers intend to target their products at this core group, then they should certainly use both labels. Besides, strategies should be developed by companies and/or policymakers to increase the percentage of consumers with positive attitudes and thus to understand why around one third of consumers are skeptical toward the organic label. Additionally, it is important to understand how to increase positive attitudes of mainstream consumers toward both labels.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Quality control task 1

Viele moderne Theorien der Psychologie gehen davon aus, dass die Beantwortung von Fragen von vielen verschiedenen Faktoren, wie bspw. Ihrem Wissen und Ihren Präferenzen beeinflusst wird. Ein Teil unserer Forschung schließt es ein, mehr über unsere ProbandInnen zu lernen. In dieser Frage möchten wir wissen, ob Sie sich die Zeit nehmen, um alle Fragen und Anweisungen zu lesen. Dadurch wollen wir sicherstellen, dass unsere Ergebnisse aussagekräftig sind. Bitte klicken Sie die Box “Anderes” an und schreiben Sie in das Textfeld “Ich habe den Text gelesen” und ignorieren Sie die Liste von Lebensmittelkategorien.

• Obst und Gemüse

• Milchprodukte

• Fleisch- und Wurstwaren

• Getreideprodukte

• Fertigprodukte

• Anderes:_____________________________

Translation of the quality control task 1

Many modern theories of psychology assume that answering questions is influenced by many different factors, such as your knowledge and preferences. Part of our research involves learning more about our participants. In this question, we want to know if you take the time to read all the questions and instructions. This is to make sure our results are meaningful. Please check the “Other” box and write “I have read the text” in the text box and ignore the list of food categories.

• Fruits and vegetables

• Dairy products

• Meat and sausage products

• Cereal products

• Ready-to-eat products

• Others:________________

Quality control task 2

Kreuzen Sie bitte “Stimme eher zu” an.

• Stimme ganz und gar nicht zu

• Stimme eher nicht zu

• Teils / teils

• Stimme eher zu

• Stimme voll und ganz zu

Translation of the quality control task 2

Please tick “Tend to agree”.

• Strongly disagree

• Rather disagree

• Partly / partly

• Tend to agree

• Agree completely

Appendix 2

Table 6.

Table 6 Description of the sample

Appendix 3

Question: When you shop for food, you pay attention to several things. Do you personally pay attention to the following aspects when shopping?

Scale: 1 = I don’t pay attention to that at all” to 5 = “I pay a lot of attention to that”.

• Calorie content

• Sugar content

• Whole grain content

• Vitamin content

• Salt content

• Fat content

• Food additives

• Fiber

• Less processed

• Particularly natural

• List of ingredients

• Nutrition table

• Organic production (organic food)

• Traffic light label (e.g., Nutri-Score)

• How healthy a food item is

• Advertising information on sweets

Appendix 4

Question: Have you ever heard of the Nutri-Score?

• No, no idea what that is.

• No, I don’t think so.

• I am not sure.

• Yes, a little.

• Yes, a lot.

Question: Do you perhaps know the meaning of this sign on a food package?

• I have no idea what this sign could mean.

• I don't know exactly what this sign means.

• I can roughly imagine what this sign could mean.

• I know pretty much what this sign means.

• I know for sure what this sign means.