Abstract
Health and nutrition claims are used by consumers to guide purchasing decisions. In consequence, monitoring and evaluation of such claims to ensure they are accurate and transparent is required. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of nutrition and health claims on dairy-yoghurt products within select Australian supermarkets and assess their compliance with the revised Food Standards Code (FSC). Nutrition, health, and related claims on yoghurt products were assessed in a cross-sectional audit of five supermarkets in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. Claim prevalence, type, and compliance were assessed and products were compared against current rating measures. A total of n = 340 dairy yoghurt products were identified. Most products (97.9%) carried at least one nutrition and/or health claim, with nutrition-content claims (93.9%) the most prevalent. Most products (n = 277) met the nutrient profiling scoring criterion; while 87.9% of products did not carry the health star rating. Almost all claims surveyed (97.4%) were compliant with the FSC. Health and nutrition claims are highly prevalent across yoghurt categories, with the majority of these compliant with regulations. The ambiguity surrounding the wording and context of claims challenges researchers to investigate consumers’ interpretations of health messaging within the food environment.
Highlights
Published: 27 May 2021Health and nutrition claims are a key component of the food environment, utilised by food companies and manufacturers as a way of informing consumers and influencing purchasing behaviour [1,2]
In Australia and New Zealand, health, nutrition, and related claims are regulated by the Food Standards Code (FSC) [10], Standard 1.2.7, which outlines the types of claims that can be made and the conditions under which they can be made
The compliance of claims was analysed by evaluating the proportion of claims compliant per yoghurt category, claim type (FSC) and Overall, 340 products were surveyed across five supermarkets in the Illawarra region with a total of 1680 health, nutrition, and related claims identified across these products
Summary
Health and nutrition claims are a key component of the food environment, utilised by food companies and manufacturers as a way of informing consumers and influencing purchasing behaviour [1,2]. These claims have been shown to have varying influences on a consumer’s ability to navigate the food environment and make informed health choices [3,4,5,6]. In order to make either general or high-level health claims, products must meet the nutrient profiling scoring criterion (NPSC) [11], which categorises foods according to their nutritional composition.
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