Abstract
Have you ever made a purchase based on a food label? Everyone gives food labels a cursory glance, but for the many consumers who wish to make purchasing decisions that reflect their personal and social values, food labels are critical. How do you decipher the myriad of new symbols, logos, certification claims, and sometimes meaningless information presented in today’s marketplace? How do you know which labels contain statements that are not regulated by governmental agencies? Can you differentiate third-party certifications from private company claims? In this commentary, we categorize and review a broad array of new label varieties, claims, certifications, and regulations. We then describe a new online, interactive resource for consumers to help them improve their understanding of food labels. Finally, we inventory additional teaching tools and resources that may provide educators with other food label curricula for consumers. See the press release for this article.
Highlights
Consumers rely on the information presented on food labels to make purchasing decisions that reflect their personal and social values (Wartella, Lichtenstein, Yaktine, & Nathan, 2012)
The evaluation was designed as a series of multiple-choice questions covering basic food labeling information presented on the web resource
Their comments and suggestions were used to refine the developed resources to better serve consumers and equip facilitators teaching about food labels with a facilitator guide and an evaluation tool
Summary
Consumers rely on the information presented on food labels to make purchasing decisions that reflect their personal and social values (Wartella, Lichtenstein, Yaktine, & Nathan, 2012). Being able to decipher the information presented on food labels is an important part of making purchasing decisions. For these reasons, it can be difficult to discern what labels mean and what content is regulated or not. It can be difficult to discern what labels mean and what content is regulated or not This commentary describes a new resource for consumers to improve their understanding of food labels. Additional teaching tools and resources were inventoried to provide educators with food label curricula for consumers. It shares an interactive website that allows consumers to explore various food labels and their standards, as well as view short informational videos about food industry standards regarding labeling
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