Independent study votes against Health Star Rating recommended by FSSAI
Independent study votes against Health Star Rating recommended by FSSAI
A new study in India found that warning labels on food packages are more effective in helping consumers identify foods that are high in sugar, saturated fat and sodium compared to other labeling formats.
Published in open access journal nutrients released earlier this month, the study is the first peer-reviewed article on the subject in an Indian context. It found that, on most parameters, the Health Star Rating (HSR) format, in which a product is assigned between 1/2 star and five stars, was the least effective. The study comes at a time when the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is expected to issue its draft regulation on front-of-package labeling (FOPL) and has indicated that it favors HSR, leading to the wrath of public health experts who have accused her of favoring the food industry.
The authors conducted a randomized in-person experiment with 2,869 adults in six Indian states, where participants were shown food packages with one of five FOPLs: a control label (barcode), a food-specific warning label nutrients (octagon symbol indicating whether the product was high in salt/sugar or saturated fat), health star rating, guide daily amount (GDA which provides information on nutritional content), or traffic light label (indicating the nutrient levels in red, amber or green). The goal of the study was to assess the impact of different labels in helping consumers correctly identify packaged products that contain excessive levels of nutrients of concern, such as sugar, saturated fat, and sodium.
The study found that relative to a control label, most participants were able to identify a nutrient of concern when presented with a package with a warning label with 60.8% acknowledging harmful nutrients compared to 55 % recognizing them when they were shown a warning label. GDA tag, and 54.8% when a semaphore tag is displayed. The HSR label performed the worst, with only 45% able to recognize all three nutrients in question.
The warning label outperformed other labels, even when it came to secondary outcomes, such as perceived message effectiveness, which predicts behavior change, the authors argue. It also performed better on outcomes such as product identification as harmful to health and user concern about health consequences. GDA and MTL performed better at attracting attention. The HSR performed worse than all other FOPL types on most secondary outcomes.
However, the study also found that warning labels failed to statistically significantly reduce intentions to purchase unhealthy packaged goods, so the authors suggest “the need to reinforce any FOPL policy with a robust communication campaign and focused on increasing consumer awareness and understanding.
Of the participants, 50% were women with an educational level of 12 years or less. Their eligibility criteria for the study included being between the ages of 18 and 60 and being involved in making decisions related to grocery shopping for their household at least half the time.
“In a country that is undergoing a demographic transition and non-communicable diseases and multiple morbidities such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases predominate, we must adopt an appropriate evidence-based strategy to educate consumers about the nutrients that concern them. . Our recommendation is to adopt warning labels,” said Dr. SK Singh, professor and director of the Department of Survey Research and Data Analysis at the International Institute for Population Sciences and the corresponding author. the hindu.
The FSSAI is expected to submit a draft regulation recommending the Health Star Rating system based on a study commissioned by the food regulator and conducted by IIM-Ahmedabad, according to the minutes of a stakeholder meeting in February 2022. This has led to Experts criticized the move and also raised questions about the IIM-A study, calling it scientifically incorrect, alleging underlying bias and faulty interpretation, as it also found warning labels to be more effective in reducing consumer intent to buy products with harmful nutrients, but recommended HSR.
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