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Lookup NU author(s): RAO Fu, Shan Jin, Dr Francisco ArealORCiD, Paul Brereton, Professor Lynn FrewerORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Labels that simultaneous present environmental and nutritional information are proposed as interventions to drive consumer demand towards a more environmentally sustainable and healthy food system. Understanding how consumers respond to this simultaneous labelling approach is crucial for determining its feasibility and potential impact of implementation. We conducted a discrete choice experiment (N = 1970) in UK to analyse consumer preferences for a simultaneous label, and its relationship with taxes/subsidies and priming (environment, nutrition, combined, and no priming). We also considered how these preferences varied using different foods (beef burger and salad meal) and purchasing contexts (where choices were made within restaurants, retail, and via delivery apps). The results suggest that UK consumers prioritised health score over environmental score in relation to food choices. Simultaneous labelling synergistically amplified the effects of both scores for beef burgers. For salad meals, the environmental score increased willingness to pay when combined with the health score, demonstrating a conditional effect of the simultaneous labelling. Taxes significantly affected consumer choices while subsidies had no significant effect. The effectiveness of priming information was found to be highly dependent on the purchasing contexts, with greater effectiveness observed in retail and delivery app contexts. These findings offer valuable insights for the design of simultaneous labelling schemes and highlight the importance of context and priming strategies in promoting environmentally sustainable and healthy food choices.
Author(s): Fu R, Jin S, Areal F, Brereton P, Woodside JV, Vlajic J, Smyth B, Nugent AP, Livingstone D, Hutchinson G, Thomas EL, Lindberg L, Frewer LJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Food Quality and Preference
Year: 2026
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 06/04/2026
Acceptance date: 04/04/2026
Date deposited: 08/04/2026
ISSN (print): 0950-3293
ISSN (electronic): 1873-6343
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.105932
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.105932
Data Access Statement: Data will be made available on request.
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