A combined Nutri-Score and 'Eco-Score' approach for more nutritious and more environmentally friendly food choices? Evidence from a consumer experiment in Belgium. (October 2021) - De Bauw, Michiel
Highlights: Dual Nutri- & Eco-Scoring system improves nutritional quality of food choices. But, environmental impact is not improved by dual Nutri-& Eco-scoring system. Specific dietary recommendation improves nutritional quality and environmental impact. Improvements are mostly achieved by decreases in consumption of harmful products. Abstract: The application of Nutri-Score on food products is ubiquitous throughout Europe and studies demonstrating its potential to stimulate healthier food choices are accumulating. At the same time, a strong need exists to evenly harmonize and activate the communication of environmental impacts on food products, in synergy with the Nutri-Score. This raises the question of whether the Nutri-Score could be expanded to an 'Eco-Score' that would similarly encourage environmentally friendly food choices. This paper reports a randomized control trial, in which a representative sample of 805 Belgian consumers was asked to hypothetically buy ingredients for a meal in a small-scale mock-up E-grocery environment. The experiment tested whether a combined Nutri-Score and Eco-Score affected the nutritional quality and environmental impact of consumers' food choices. This effect was compared to general and specific dietary recommendations on the one hand, and to detailed impact tables on the other hand. Since visual distraction often plays a role in informative persuasion, the treatments were evaluated subject to different levels of distraction caused by product images. The average nutritional quality index (NQI) and environmental impact index (EII) of the selected baskets were calculated to evaluate the effects of the manipulations. We find that a joint Nutri-Score and Eco-Score label improves the NQI but not the EII. The general- and specific recommendation as well as the detailed information also improved the NQI. However, the specific recommendation was the only treatment that also improved the EII. The improvements in NQI due to the scores could be explained by a reduced consumption of pork. The improvements in EII induced by the specific recommendation could mainly be explained by a reduction in beef consumption. Only very mild indications were found that product images interfered with the effect of the scores. This study provides some initial evidence and support for the use of dual Nutri-Score – Eco-Score label to induce transitions towards healthier and more sustainable diets. We also find that recommendations outside the classic Front-Of-Package label framework could be a promising way to realize such a transition. However, it remains to be tested whether similar effects occur in real E-groceries and on a longer time scale.