Front-of-pack nutrition labelling spurs innovation and healthier options

October 23th, 2015

A recent study examined the effects of consumer packaged food manufacturers’ voluntary adoption of front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling programmes on company innovation across more than 600 brands and 7,500 US products over a 10-year period.  Researchers  found that participating companies introduce more innovative and nutritionally better products as compared to non-participating companies. Additional analyses suggest that early adopters of FOP nutrition labeling introduce more new products as compared to late adopters of FOP. The results of this study, that has been financially supported by Unilever, have important implications for companies and policy makers and merits further examination of the effects of industry-led voluntary initiatives on consumer welfare.

[Lim JH, Rishika R, and Janakiraman R. The Effects of Voluntary Disclosure of Product Information on Firm Innovation: The Case of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling Initiative. Working paper, September 2015]