FLABEL takes a new look at nutritional labels A new EU-funded project has been launched to produce state-of-the-art knowledge on food labelling for nutritional advice. FLABEL ('Food labelling to advance better education for life') is the first EU-funded research project on nutritional labelling and it will research the ef... A new EU-funded project has been launched to produce state-of-the-art knowledge on food labelling for nutritional advice. FLABEL ('Food labelling to advance better education for life') is the first EU-funded research project on nutritional labelling and it will research the effects of labelling on consumers in order to better understand how it influences shoppers' buying choices. The question of healthy food choices is now of crucial importance in Europe. Diet-related ill health among Europeans is growing to enormous proportions becoming a large burden on EU health services. There is great concern among governments and health authorities that EU citizens must be encouraged to make healthier food choices. The FLABEL project will receive EUR 2.8 million in funding and will run for three years between 2008 and 2011. A consortium of 12 partners from 8 countries, including academic institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), retailers and not-for-profit organisations will investigate which methods of food labelling are the most popular with consumers, which have the most effect and how consumers relate to different types of food labelling. Nutritional information on food labels is already available on most food products that we buy, but little is known about its actual effects on consumers. The FLABEL consortium will study the effects that different types of food labels have on consumers and investigate the usefulness of labelling as a source of nutritional advice. One of the project's main goals is to provide a scientific basis for nutritional labelling on food that can be used in a pan-European context. The consortium believes its research will produce many positive results that will help create an easy-to-use labelling system that will help consumers to make the healthiest food choices. As well as carrying out academic research, consortium partners will carry out 'real world' on-site investigations in supermarkets to find out why certain types of labelling are more popular with shoppers or easier to understand. Among the research results of the project will be the creation of an EU-wide 'nutrition map' that will show to what extent nutrition labelling is already available throughout Europe. The project will investigate how nutrition labels are actually read by consumers. Striking a balance between information that is simple and clear, but also complete nutritionally is a challenging area of research for the project, as is creating a set of best practice guidelines for nutritional labelling which will be tested in supermarkets. A study will also be carried out into how families use nutritional labelling when buying food for their children and whether labelling can be used to influence parents to make healthier choices for their children. Ultimately, the results of FLABEL will be shared with all major stakeholders involved in the food industry such as research institutes, SMEs and health organisations.
