Assessing consumer preferences for labelling information on dry cured serrano ham on a virtual supermarket in Spain

Abstract

Encouraging healthy and personalized nutrition has become one of the EU strategic lines and since 2015, the third sustainable developed objective promoted by the United Nations aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. One approach to address this objective is to provide information to consumers through the labelling of nutrients that a food product contains. However, it has been scientifically proven that many food products provide an approximation of their nutrient content on the food packages, which might mislead consumers. Hence, this study examines consumers’ acceptance of precise nutrient labelling (nutritional facts and nutritional claims related to fat and salt content) on dry-cured ham (Jamón Serrano) in a virtual supermarket. The study was conducted in Zaragoza (Spain) on 161 consumers. In a virtual supermarket that mimics a real-life environment, participants were presented to a choice set of 6 alternatives and a no-buy option, and were asked to choose their most preferred ham. The results indicate that Spanish consumers preferred dry-cured ham with a conventional nutrition label while the low salt content nutrition claim does not affect consumers