Full report of the research (PDF)
The Food and Drug Administration is establishing a rule to include trans fat on the Nutrition Facts panel of food packages. In addition to trans fat being listed as a separate line item, the agency has been exploring potential footnotes to explain trans fat in the context of the diet. A footnote that was proposed early this year read, “Intake of trans fat should be as low as possible.”
The IFIC Foundation, with funding from unrestricted grants, conducted quantitative research to measure consumer interpretation and use of labels containing the proposed trans fat footnote. To accomplish this objective, the research explored consumer choices and perceptions of nutrition information contained in the Nutrition Facts panel.
The sample for this research consisted of 1301 primary household shoppers ages 18 and older and was weighted to be representative of the U.S. population. The survey was administered via the Internet so that the respondents could see the labels.
Results showed that when consumers used the current Nutrition Facts panel to ascertain a product’s overall healthfulness, they tended to rely on a variety of components such as calories, total fat, sodium and saturated fat. When the trans fat line item was added, consumers were able to use that information, in addition to the other components, to make their food choice. Therefore, the addition of a separate line item for trans fat appears to be a useful tool for consumers.
In contrast, when consumers used the proposed Nutrition Facts panel containing the trans fat footnote, they placed disproportionate weight on the trans fat nutrition information, discounting other important content information.
The findings in this report underscore the importance of conducting consumer research to develop public health messages, including on the Nutrition Facts label. The research report is entitled “Impact of Trans Fat Label Information on Consumer Food Choices” and is available in PDF format on the IFIC Foundation Web site.
