According to food scientists and nutritionists at Newcastle University, shoppers typically use Front of Pack (FOP) labels for three main reasons: medical conditions; weight control; and being health conscious.
Medical conditions
Some studies have determined that shoppers with medical conditions are more likely to check FOP labels than other label users. Most commonly, shopping for someone (themselves or someone else in their household) who has a medical condition which requires the monitoring of nutrients. These shoppers check one or two nutrients on FOP labels: for example, those with diabetes are likely to check sugar content, and those with heart disease check salt and fat content.
Conditions often cited by shoppers that make the monitoring FOP labelling necessary include:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Coeliac disease
These shoppers are well informed about the levels of nutrients they should be consuming.
Weight control
Shoppers who are on a weight reduction diet usually use the energy information on FOP labels, with some also looking at fat content.
They may also use the Back of Pack (BOP) nutritional information to help them to work out ‘points’ for their particular weight control system. BOP nutritional information is also checked for carbohydrate content by dieters.
More rarely, there are shoppers who are trying to gain weight, e.g. bodybuilders, who use FOP labels to help them choose products with, for instance, high calorie content. However, in these cases shoppers also look at BOP information to check for additives and ingredients and to try to find the healthiest high calorie products.
Being health conscious
Commonly, there are three subgroups among health conscious shoppers: those who are generally aware of healthy eating; those who are shopping for young children; and those who have a family or personal history of medical conditions.
There are shoppers who check FOP labels because they are health conscious and like to eat healthily. These shoppers tend to buy ready meals and snacks such as crisps as relatively rarely. They are usually well informed about what constitutes healthy eating (for example, the need to eat numerous portions of fruit and vegetables a day, as well as sufficient protein), and are generally nutritionally aware, typically understanding guidelines around daily amounts for nutrients and calories. This group of shoppers are more likely to cook using fresh ingredients on a regular basis, and check FOP labels at the point of purchase to ensure that they are not eating too many meals with high levels of salt, sugar, fat and saturated fats in them.
People shopping for children, especially toddlers and babies, are likely to check the salt and sugar content of products through use of FOP labels. Parents tend to be more concerned about the salt content in products than sugar, however, the sugar content in products specifically aimed at children, such as cereals, are also of concern. It is usual for these shoppers to check the FOP labels on products which their children would eat, but not check them on food the adults in the house would eat.
Shoppers who are hoping to avoid health problems; these shoppers fall into three further subcategories:
- Shoppers who have a family history of a medical condition try to eat healthily to avoid developing the condition themselves.
- Those whose families have a tendency to be overweight and, although not dieting, are careful about what they eat to avoid putting on weight.
- Those who have been overweight and who have successfully dieted. They are not on a weight maintenance diet as such, but are careful about the products they eat to ensure that they did not regain weight.
All of these shoppers have the common goal of checking FOP labels to ensure that they are eating products which help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle for themselves or their children.
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