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The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment

Background: Although packaged foods sold in retail stores must follow food labelling regulations, there are no e-grocery food labelling regulations to mandate and standardize the availability and presentation of product information. Therefore, the objective of the study was to evaluate the availabil...

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Autores principales: Lee, Jennifer J., Ahmed, Mavra, Zhang, Tianyi, Weippert, Madyson V., Schermel, Alyssa, L’Abbé, Mary R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399674/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34444771
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082611
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author Lee, Jennifer J.
Ahmed, Mavra
Zhang, Tianyi
Weippert, Madyson V.
Schermel, Alyssa
L’Abbé, Mary R.
author_facet Lee, Jennifer J.
Ahmed, Mavra
Zhang, Tianyi
Weippert, Madyson V.
Schermel, Alyssa
L’Abbé, Mary R.
author_sort Lee, Jennifer J.
collection PubMed
description Background: Although packaged foods sold in retail stores must follow food labelling regulations, there are no e-grocery food labelling regulations to mandate and standardize the availability and presentation of product information. Therefore, the objective of the study was to evaluate the availability and quality of food labelling components in the Canadian e-grocery retail environment. Methods: A sample of fresh and pre-packaged products was identified on eight leading grocery retail websites in Canada, to assess the availability and quality of food labelling components. Results: Out of 555 product searches, all products were accompanied by product images with front-of-pack images more readily available (96.0%) than back-of-pack (12.4%) and other side panel images (3.1%). The following mandatory nutrition information was available for 61.1% of the products: nutrition facts table (68.8%), ingredient (73.9%), and allergen (53.8%) information. The majority of the nutrition information was available after scrolling down, clicking additionally on the description page, or viewing only as an image. Date markings were not available; packaging material information was available for 2.0% of the products. Conclusions: There was wide variability and inconsistencies in the presentation of food labelling components in the e-grocery retail environment, which can be barriers in enabling Canadians to make informed purchasing decisions.
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spelling pubmed-83996742021-08-29 The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment Lee, Jennifer J. Ahmed, Mavra Zhang, Tianyi Weippert, Madyson V. Schermel, Alyssa L’Abbé, Mary R. Nutrients Article Background: Although packaged foods sold in retail stores must follow food labelling regulations, there are no e-grocery food labelling regulations to mandate and standardize the availability and presentation of product information. Therefore, the objective of the study was to evaluate the availability and quality of food labelling components in the Canadian e-grocery retail environment. Methods: A sample of fresh and pre-packaged products was identified on eight leading grocery retail websites in Canada, to assess the availability and quality of food labelling components. Results: Out of 555 product searches, all products were accompanied by product images with front-of-pack images more readily available (96.0%) than back-of-pack (12.4%) and other side panel images (3.1%). The following mandatory nutrition information was available for 61.1% of the products: nutrition facts table (68.8%), ingredient (73.9%), and allergen (53.8%) information. The majority of the nutrition information was available after scrolling down, clicking additionally on the description page, or viewing only as an image. Date markings were not available; packaging material information was available for 2.0% of the products. Conclusions: There was wide variability and inconsistencies in the presentation of food labelling components in the e-grocery retail environment, which can be barriers in enabling Canadians to make informed purchasing decisions. MDPI 2021-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8399674/ /pubmed/34444771 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082611 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lee, Jennifer J.
Ahmed, Mavra
Zhang, Tianyi
Weippert, Madyson V.
Schermel, Alyssa
L’Abbé, Mary R.
The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title_full The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title_fullStr The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title_full_unstemmed The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title_short The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment
title_sort availability and quality of food labelling components in the canadian e-grocery retail environment
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399674/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34444771
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082611
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