Introduction
We ran an artefactual field experiment in the laboratory \citep{Harrison_2004} to assess the nutritional impact of five front-of-pack nutritional labels on the shopping behavior of subjects. The study, collecting data about 809 subjects, was financed by the French Ministry of Health and ran alongside a randomized controlled trial that tested the impact of the same five labels on a subset of products in 60 supermarkets in France in late fall and winter 2016.
We tested 5 labels, that were (slightly modified) versions of labels already in use in different countries, plus two original designs developed in France. The internationally used labels were NutriRepère – known in the English speaking world as GDA (Guidelines Daily Amount) or RI (Reference Intake); NutriCouleur – an adapted version of the UK Traffic Lights system; NutriMark – the system in use in Australia and New Zealand. The two newly-developed label were SENS, a label based on suggested frequencies of consumption (everyday, from time to time, …) and developed by XXXXX; and NutriScore, a 5-color label developed by INSERM, the French National Institute for Medical Research, and based on the UK's Food and Standard Agency nutritional score [5]. NutriScore gives an overall assessment of the product rather than a breakdown of the food nutritional components; and it conveys the information much alike the energy efficiency label used in electric home appliances, as a color on a 5-color, green-to-red scale. The five labels tested in the experiment are visually represented in Figure 1 below.
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