Do Sustainability Labels Lead to More Sustainable and Healthier Food Choices?

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study tests the effect of two climate change menu labels, one indicating 'low climate impact' and the other indicating 'high climate impact' on ordering choices and perceptions of healthfulness of food ordered in an online randomized experiment.

Detailed Description
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The objective of this study is to examine how climate impact menu labels influence US adults' ordering and perceptions via an online randomized experiment. Participants were randomized to view one of 3 fast food menus online and then choose an item that they would like to order. One menu 'control' had QR code labels, the second had low climate impact labels on items with lower greenhouse gas emissions (vegetarian, chicken or fish items), the third had high climate impact labels on beef items. After the ordering task participants answered questions about what label they saw on the menu, how healthy they thought the item they ordered was, and how much the label discouraged them from eating high climate impact items.

Official Title
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Do Sustainability Labels Lead to More Sustainable and Healthier Food Choices?

Conditions
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Food Selection, Attitude

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Low Climate Impact label
* Other: High Climate Impact label


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 18 years of age or older Member of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) Amerispeak Panel Exclusion Criteria: <18 years of age completed the survey in < 1/3 of the median duration skipped or refused more than 50% of the survey questions

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Control (QR) label<br>QR label on all menu items | |
| Experimental: Low Climate Impact Label<br>'Low Climate Impact' label on all chicken, fish and vegetarian menu items | Other: Low Climate Impact label<br>* Menu labels indicating low climate impact on chicken, fish, and vegetarian food items on a simulated online fast food menu.<br>|
| Experimental: High climate Impact Label<br>'High Climate Impact' label on all beef menu items | Other: High Climate Impact label<br>* Menu labels indicating high climate impact on beef food items on a simulated online fast food menu.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sustainable vs. unsustainable selection from the menu | The primary outcome is a binary indicator of whether or not the participant selected during the ordering task was a sustainable (chicken, fish, or vegetarian) menu item (1) vs. an unsustainable (beef) menu item (0). Before viewing the fast food menu, participants were asked to imagine they are at a restaurant and about to order dinner. They were asked to select one item they want to order for themselves. Participants could select one item to order before moving on. | 1 minute | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Perceptions of healthfulness | Perceptions of how healthy the meal ordered was (on a scale of 1=very unhealthy to 7=very healthy) | < 1 minute | 
| Perceived Message Effectiveness (PME) | This outcomes used 1 item from the 3 item UNC-PME scale to measure how much the assigned label discouraged the participant from wanting to consume items with a high impact on climate change. Responses are measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1=Strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree. The exact question text is: How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Information on the menu discouraged me from wanting to consume menu items with a high impact on climate change. | <1 minute | 
| Nutrition Profile Index of ordered item | The Nutrition Profile Index score (0-100) of the ordered item | < 1 minute |