When more is less: the effect of multiple health and nutritional labels in food product choice

Consumers are facing increasing information on health and nutritional aspects of foods, an important source of which is that presented in food packages. Prior research has identified that this information is positively valued, but the effect of multiple information items simultaneously is not so well understood. A choice experiment has been conducted to identify the effect of multiple health and nutrition information sources in two products which represent both a healthy and less-healthy food (pork Frankfurt sausages and plain yoghurt respectively). Results show that although highly heterogeneous, preferences seem to positively value individual information items and negatively value the presence of more than one item, specially if the item is a health claim. Premiums consumers are willing to pay represent a significant percentage of retail price, specially for the less healthy food product which also faces lower retails prices.