3.5.1.3 Food labelling and marketing influences GapFill

Food  marketinglabellingpreferencesstorage can affect an individual’s food choice, whether through providing information about the nutritional value, fat, sugar and/or salt content or by listing potential allergens or ingredients that need to be avoided by some people.

Non-mandatory information may include serving suggestions, while mandatory information on labelling is currently governed by EU (European Union) and Food Standards Agency (FSA) legislation and mostly applies to pre-packed foods.

Mandatory information on food labelling includes the following:

•  producernamepackagingdiscounts of the food
• list of  cooking methodsproducerstarget customersingredients, including those that may cause   culturesgasallergiesheart attacks and intolerances
• quantitative ingredient declaration
• net quantity
• nutrition labelling
•  ingredientnutritionaldateexam marks
• name and address of business
• type of treatment used
• country of origin (provenance)
•  intolerancestoragenutritionalcooking conditions
• added water and ingredients

All packaging must include the following nutrition information (amount of each per 100 g or 100 ml): energy (in kJ and kcal), fat (in g), saturates (in g), carbohydrate (in g), sugars (in g), protein (in g), salt (in g). Furthermore, the recommended daily amount stated on nutritional labelling is now called the reference  intakeouttakerecommendationssuggestions. These values are based on an average sized female or male with an average  deprivedactiveboringinactive lifestyle. The nutritional information is usually displayed as a  colourfractionwordpercentage of the RI.

Food marketing or advertising can influence an individual’s food choices by using tempting offers and deals, such as meal deals, buy one get one free (BOGOF) and special offers. Supermarket promotions can encourage consumers to buy more products, e.g. two for the price of one, discounted products, buy one get second half price, etc.

Purchasing more food than is needed can lead to food  demandswasteshortagesmarketing. Point of  saleinterestpromotioncontact marketing refers to the attempt to increase sales at the counter or till where the transaction will take place. This type of marketing tries to grab the attention of consumers waiting in a queue to pay for their items and encourages them to make an unplanned purchase. A queuing consumer has more time to look at promotional displays while they wait and may feel bored, thirsty or hungry and feel themselves being tempted by the advertising for snacks, drinks, sweets or magazines, particularly if there is a deal or discount offered.The  preferencesworld leadersmediamarket all play a part in influencing the food choices of consumers, through health articles, diet advice, food scares, hype over ‘superfoods’, food provenance programmes (i.e. where does your food come from?), advice on nutrition (such as vitamins and minerals) vegetarian/vegan societies’ help and advice, recipes in magazines, online and on TV. Some newspaper, online or magazine articles use results from recent food research to create (sometimes sensational or deliberately provocative) headlines to hook potential readers. Advertising on TV is designed to appeal to the average  programmesales managercelebrityconsumer and tempt them into buying their products through clever use of imagery and jingles (short songs or tunes) that stick in the mind.