Front-of-pack nutrition labels: an equitable public health intervention

Abstract

It is important for nutrition interventions to be equitable to ensure they do not widen socioeconomic health-based inequalities. The role of front-of-pack nutrition labels is to provide accessible and easily understood information on product packages, and it is essential that such labels assist those who are least able to access and interpret other forms of nutrition information. This secondary analysis of the FOP-ICE food labelling study involving 18 countries (N = 18,393) assessed whether five different front-of-pack labels varied in effectiveness according to income status. The two outcome variables were objective understanding of products’ nutritional quality and product choice. While there were substantial differences in the ability of individual labels to improve understanding, for each label and across all labels combined there were no significant differences in changes in both outcome variables by income category. The results provide evidence that interpretive front-of-pack nutrition labels are an equitable and useful nutrition intervention.