Traffic Lights and Food Choice: A Choice Experiment Examining the Relationship Between Nutritional Food Labels and Price

Kelvin Balcombe, Iain Fraser and Salvatore Di Falco

Studies in Economics from School of Economics, University of Kent

Abstract: In this paper we investigate how consumers respond to the UK food label Traffic Light System (TLS). Employing a Choice Experiment (CE) we find that consumers appear to behave in a manner consistent with our expectations regarding the impact of the TLS nutrition label. In particular, we identify a strong preference on the part of respondents to avoid a basket of goods containing a mix of foods with any "Red" lights. We have also found that consumers have a hierarchy of importance in terms of perception of the various nutrients examined and clear behavioural differences associated with particular socio-economic characteristics confirming early research on the use of nutrition labels. Overall our results indicate significant heterogeneity in the attitudes and responses of consumers to food labels within and across socioeconomic strata in terms of the magnitude of WTP.

Keywords: Nutrients; Traffic Light System; Choice Experiment; Bayesian Mixed Logit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D01 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-dcm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Journal Article: Traffic lights and food choice: A choice experiment examining the relationship between nutritional food labels and price (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0915

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