Consumer preferences for front-of-pack nutrition labels: the case of Nutri-score labelling in Spain

Abstract

In Europe, in the Farm to Fork Strategy (FTFS), published on 20 May 2020, has been indicated for the 2022 the harmonization of all nutritional labelling introduced by European countries voluntarily, following the art 35 of the Regulation 1196/2011. Actually, different countries have introduced front-of-pack nutrition labels (FoPNL) as a tool to help their citizens to make healthy decisions when shopping. For example, Nutri-Score has already been endorsed by a number of European countries, Spain being the second country adopting it (2018) and rejected by some others, like Italy that claims it penalizes Made in Italy food products, especially the EU quality certified. This study analyses Spanish consumer’s choices and understanding of Nutri-Score, NutrInform Battery and Multiple Traffic Light. 400 Spanish consumers participated in an online survey during the fall 2020 and a Discrete Choice Experiment was implemented (DCE). The primarily analysis indicate that Spanish consumers value positively the FoPNL, but Nutri-Score was not preferred as the best option since the most valued was the NutrInform Battery