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Nutrition labels' strengths & weaknesses and strategies for improving their use in Iran: A qualitative study

PloS one, 2020-10, Vol.15 (10), p.e0241395-e0241395 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

COPYRIGHT 2020 Public Library of Science ;COPYRIGHT 2020 Public Library of Science ;2020 Seyedhamzeh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;2020 Seyedhamzeh et al 2020 Seyedhamzeh et al ;ISSN: 1932-6203 ;EISSN: 1932-6203 ;DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241395 ;PMID: 33126236

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  • Title:
    Nutrition labels' strengths & weaknesses and strategies for improving their use in Iran: A qualitative study
  • Author: Seyedhamzeh, Shirin ; Nedjat, Saharnaz ; Shakibazadeh, Elham ; Doustmohammadian, Azam ; Hosseini, Hedayat ; Dorosty Motlagh, Ahmadreza
  • Bhargava, Madhavi
  • Subjects: Adult ; Analysis ; Child ; Consumer Behavior ; Consumers ; Descriptive labeling ; Education ; Evaluation ; Fatty acids ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Food industry ; Food labeling ; Food Labeling - methods ; Food Preferences ; Food processing industry ; Food products ; Food quality ; Health aspects ; Health Behavior ; Health care ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Incompatibility ; Industrial research ; Information dissemination ; Interviews ; Iran ; Labels ; Mothers ; Nutrition ; Nutrition policy ; Nutritionists ; Nutritive Value ; Public health ; Qualitative Research ; Quality control ; Socioeconomic factors ; Television ; Traffic ; Traffic signals
  • Is Part Of: PloS one, 2020-10, Vol.15 (10), p.e0241395-e0241395
  • Description: This study aimed to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Traffic light label (TLL) and nutrition facts label (NFL) and the strategies for improving their use in Iran, based on the perspectives of different stakeholders, including mothers, food quality control experts (FQC), nutritionists and food industry experts. We conducted 10 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 63 mothers, 10 semi-structured interviews with FQCs, 1 FGD with 6 nutritionists and 1 FGD with 8 food industry experts. To clarify some of the questions that arose from the interviews, the researcher interviewed three policy makers who had sufficient information about the TLL. The discussions and interviews were transcribed verbatim and MAXQDA10 software was used for coding. The most important findings of this study based on different stakeholders' perspectives were as follows: mothers believed that nutrition labels reduced the consumption of high-calorie products, although they found the TLL to be easier to understand than the NFL because of its red color. However, their weaknesses were their incompatibility with culture and the lack of trust in the information provided by manufacturers. FQCs pointed out the possibility of changing formulations and the appropriateness of the traffic light for patients, but like mothers, they believed that the labels did not suit the governing culture. Further weaknesses were, misleading the consumer, problems in the colorings reported by different laboratories, and different approaches adopted by regulatory experts. The simplicity of understanding TLL for the general public has been suggested by some nutritionists. Nevertheless, the multiplicity of colors of the TLL was the most important weakness presented by nutritionists and food industry experts and the failure to implement nutrition labels was another issue raised by experts. To improve the use of nutrition labels, notification via media especially television, community education and culture building were suggested by all stakeholders. The findings of this study underscore the importance of implementing the policy of nutrition labeling in Iran. Mothers and nutritionists believed TLL to be more appropriate for the public to understand, however, FQCs and food industry experts believed that NFL was more suitable in guiding consumers toward healthy food choices. Education and information dissemination via media on interpretive TLL may affect consumer behavior toward food purchases.
  • Publisher: United States: Public Library of Science
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1932-6203
    EISSN: 1932-6203
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241395
    PMID: 33126236
  • Source: PLoS (Open access)
    PubMed Central (Open access)
    DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
    GFMER Free Medical Journals
    MEDLINE
    ProQuest Databases
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