Study finds climate impact labels on sample fast food menu had strong effect on food selection
‘High climate impact’ label on burgers increased non-beef choices by 23 percent; findings highlight potential of promoting sustainable food choices
Peer-Reviewed PublicationA new study has found that including climate impact labels on a sample fast food menu influenced participants’ food choices in favor of more climate-friendly items. The study was led by a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
For the study, more than 5,000 online participants were shown a sample menu resembling a fast food menu and asked to choose a single item for dinner. One group of participants received a menu with non-red meat menu items such as chicken sandwiches labeled “low climate impact.” Another group received a menu with red meat items—burgers—labeled “high climate impact.” A third control group received menus with QR codes on all items and no climate labels.
Both the high and low climate impact labels markedly reduced red meat selections compared to the control group, with the high impact labels having a strong effect. Menus with a “high climate impact” label on burgers increased non-beef choices by 23 percent compared to the control group. Menus that included “low climate impact” labels increased non-beef choices, such as a chicken sandwich or a salad, by about 10 percent more participants than those in the control group.
The study was published online December 27 in JAMA Network Open.
“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” says study lead author Julia Wolfson, PhD, associate professor in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School.
Using labels on menus has long been seen as a potential approach for promoting healthful and sustainable food options.
For their study, Wolfson and her co-authors wanted to test how signaling climate change impacts of fast food menu items might prompt people to opt for less red meat. Red meat consumption has been linked to health problems such as colorectal cancer, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and other illnesses. Less consumption of red meat also would also help to lower greenhouse gas emissions which would help reduce climate change because beef production is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the food and agriculture sector.
The study was fielded from March 30 to April 13, 2022, and included 5,049 nationwide participants. The “low climate impact” labels for vegetarian, chicken, or fish menu items were green. The “high climate impact” labels for all beef burger choices were red. The authors based the high/low impact climate categories on evidence that beef has high climate impact compared to other proteins.
In addition to being asked to choose an item for dinner, participants were asked to rate how healthy they thought the item they ordered was. No matter which type of label was on the menu viewed, participants who selected a more sustainable (i.e., non-beef) item perceived their choice to be healthier compared to those who selected a beef item.
To assess the healthfulness of the sample menu items, the researchers applied a widely used measure called the Nutritional Profiling Index. The Index measures the healthfulness of foods on a 100-point scale, with 64 and lower considered healthful. The researchers found that the choices of the “high climate impact” label group scored slightly better than those of the control group and the “low climate impact” group. However, none of the items on the menu scored high enough to be considered optimally healthful.
While encouraging on the whole, the results suggest that positively framed “low climate impact” labels are less effective in encouraging sustainable food choices compared to “high climate impact” labels. At the same time, climate labels may have the unwanted side effect of making a choice seem healthier than it actually is.
“An undeserved health halo conferred to unhealthy menu items could encourage their overconsumption,” Wolfson says. “So we have to look for labeling strategies that create ‘win-wins’ for promoting both more sustainable and healthy choices.”
Wolfson and her colleagues aim to do similar studies in more real-world food-choice settings.
“Effect of climate change impact menu labels on fast food ordering choices among US adults: a randomized clinical trial” was co-authored by Julia Wolfson, Aviva Musicus, Cindy Leung, Ashley Gearhardt, and Jennifer Falbe.
Support for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (K01DK119166, 2T32CA057711, K01DK113068) and the National Science Foundation (0818839).
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Effect of Climate Change Impact Menu Labels on Fast Food Ordering Choices Among US Adults
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
27-Dec-2022
Consumer preferences for sustainably
produced meat and meat substitutes in
Japan
IMAGE: - view more
CREDIT: TOKYO TECH
Meat has multiple nutritional benefits and is consumed as the primary source of protein by an increasing segment of the world’s population. However, there have been significant environmental costs associated with the growing demand for meat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported in 2013 that livestock production accounts for 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.
To reduce the environmental impact of meat production and meet the increasing demand for protein sustainably, there have been efforts to switch to alternative livestock farming practices and protein sources such as plant-based protein and lab-grown meat, also known as cultured meat.
To understand consumer preferences and attitudes towards these alternative protein sources, researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Shinshu University in Japan conducted a survey involving 4,421 beef consumers and shoppers in Japan.
“To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to explore and give insights on beef and meat substitutes in Japan, where there have been fewer reports than in other markets,” says Associate Professor Takumi Ohashi from Tokyo Tech. The results of this survey are discussed in their study, which was published in Meat Science and was made available online on 24 November 2022.
Most of the respondents preferred domestic beef, but their choices of production methods and preference for meat substitutes were influenced by a wide range of factors such as cost, familiarity, and various sociodemographic characteristics.
“Five segments could be identified according to the respondents’ choice preferences in each segment: novelty accepters, generous customers, attribute–economy balancers, price–conscious, and conservatives,” says Prof. Ohashi.
The largest group, comprising 32% of respondents, were generous customers who were willing to pay a premium for organic beef mince. The second largest group, comprising over 19% of the respondents were conservative consumers who preferred beef mince produced by conventional methods. 18.3% of respondents were attribute-economy balancers and 18.1% were price-conscious customers, who shared similar preferences with the generous customers but were more influenced by the price of meat when making their decisions.
In these four segments, plant-based substitutes and cultured meat were the least preferred. However, novelty accepters, who made up the smallest group of respondents at 13%, stood out in the survey due to their high preference towards sustainably grown meat and meat substitutes. This group was characterized by their willingness to try new and innovative products.
Overall, the survey found that 80% of respondents preferred Japanese-origin organic beef and were willing to pay a premium for the same.. However, most of the respondents were unlikely to switch to plant-based meat or cultured meat.
The results of the survey suggest that there is a diverse range of preferences and behaviors among consumers in Japan when it comes to the types of beef production and meat substitutes. Taking into consideration the values and preferences of each consumer segment can help incentivize the use of alternative and sustainable protein sources.
JOURNAL
Meat Science
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Survey
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Meat the challenge: Segmentation and profiling of Japanese beef mince and its substitutes consumers
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