Does labeling food with "traffic lights" encourage consumer purchases?

According to researchers at the University of Bonn, Germany, labeling unhealthy foods like junk food with a red light symbol, similar to those used in traffic lights, could help shoppers choose healthier options.

Illustrative image. (Source: tts-group.co.uk)

The labeling system warns that foods high in fat, sugar, and salt are indicated by a red light, foods that are not too harmful by a yellow light, and foods considered healthy by a green light.

The research team tested the system on 35 adult volunteers, including 19 women.

Volunteers were connected to a brain scanner and shown images of 100 food items and their nutritional information, ranging from instant foods and chocolate to yogurt.

Researchers randomly selected an image to show each volunteer: either an image of a product labeled with a traffic light, or nutritional information. The volunteers then indicated how much they were willing to pay for the product.

The results showed that they were willing to pay more for products labeled with a green light compared to similar healthy products that had printed nutritional information. In the case of foods labeled with a red light, volunteers were not willing to pay a higher price, while similar products with printed nutritional information were more readily available.

However, another study by German researchers suggests that if food companies make mistakes in labeling, the effectiveness of this method will no longer be guaranteed. Furthermore, the traffic light method focuses only on three main components—fat, sugar, and salt—without considering other important factors, thus easily creating a false sense of security for consumers.

Currently, traffic light labeling systems are in use in the UK, although they remain controversial, as a recent study by Canadian scientists showed that the system causes many problems for consumers who do not have time to choose what is less harmful to them.

In the aforementioned study, the NuVal system was shown to be more effective than conventional traffic light labels and nutritional information labels. The NuVal system scores food safety on a 100-point scale.

According to Vietnamplus