COLUMBUS, Ohio — Consumers trust product labels and marketing claims according to one university survey.
“Generally, consumers trust — or, at least, don’t distrust — the labels on their food. This trust is significantly lower for claims about the health or naturalness of food, claims which may often be more nebulous or more clearly motivated by marketing objectives,” said Jayson Lusk in a release.
Lusk leads the Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability, which published the survey.
The survey examined consumer trust, asking whether participants completely trust, somewhat trust, neither trust nor distrust, somewhat distrust, or completely distrust product labels, including the ingredient list, organic certification, low-calorie claims, health claims and others.
Spectrum News agriculture expert Andy Vance said the study asked how consumers are feeling about various issues in the food supply.
“What was really interesting was seeing a pretty broad difference between things like ingredient list and calorie count that consumers by and large take at face value and some of the other claims that are maybe a little more squishy, touchy-feely,” Vance said.
Ingredient list and calorie scored highest in consumer trust.
“Yeah, it was really interesting as I looked at the things that consumers were most trustful of and least trustful of. They lined up really well with what I would see as things that are more empirical or fact-based versus things or kind of fairy dust and hopes and dreams. So the natural claim is one that if you see that on a package, it is absolutely meaningless,” Vance said.
Health claims were among the least trusted labels.
