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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Attitude; Food Selection
• Interventions: Other: Low Climate Impact label; Other: High Climate Impact label

• Registration Number: NCT05482204
• Lead Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Brief Summary

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

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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-03-30
• Primary Completion: 2022-04-13
• Study Completion: 2022-04-13
• Status Verified: 2022-07
• Study First Submitted: 2022-07-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-07-29
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-07-29
• Study First Posted: 2022-08-01
• Last Update Posted: 2022-08-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 5055

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Low Climate Impact Label	Low Climate Impact label	'Low Climate Impact' label on all chicken, fish and vegetarian menu items
High climate Impact Label	High Climate Impact label	'High Climate Impact' label on all beef menu items

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Sustainable vs. unsustainable selection from the menu	1 minute	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.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Nutrition Profile Index of ordered item	< 1 minute	The Nutrition Profile Index score (0-100) of the ordered item
Perceptions of healthfulness	< 1 minute	Perceptions of how healthy the meal ordered was (on a scale of 1=very unhealthy to 7=very healthy)
Perceived Message Effectiveness (PME)	<1 minute	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."

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; 🇺🇸 Baltimore, Maryland, United States