------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thai consumers have recently become more
aware and selective in their food choices.
On the regulator’s side, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in
Thailand now requires the monochrome GDA label in order to support Thai consumers’
demand for such information. A recent research article from Thitiporn
Thanavutwatthana and Dr.Yingyot Chiaravutthi from the Mahidol University
International College (MUIC) explores how Thai consumers react to different
types of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels, including the monochrome GDA
label, the color-coded GDA label, and the traffic light label. The experimental auction was employed as a
tool to extract consumers’ willingness to pay.
Seventy two representative consumers participated in the
experiment. The food products used in
this research were seaweed and almonds, which are popular snacks amongst Thai
consumers.
The results show that Thai consumers
have a different willingness to pay for food products that have different
nutritional values. Without the FOP
label, grilled seaweed receive a lower willingness to pay than fried seaweed;
whilst unsalted almonds have a higher willingness to pay when compared to
salted almonds. This result could arise
from consumers’ preferences of one certain taste over another. In terms of actual market prices, both types
of seaweed have the same market prices, since both come under the same producer;
which is also true in the case of almonds.
Another important finding is that any type of FOP nutrition label adds
some value to the food products, regardless of their nutritional values.
Although consumers are willing to pay
higher prices for products with the monochrome GDA label, this type of label
also raises the willingness to pay for unhealthy choices as well. The traffic light label, on the other hand,
seems to be an effective tool in influencing consumers’ decision making. Thai consumers prefer fried seaweed over
grilled seaweed as presented in Table 10; but with the traffic light label, grilled
seaweed now has a higher price premium. Note
that fried seaweed has red lights on both the fat and the saturated fat
categories, whilst grilled seaweed has green lights on both categories. The traffic light is obvious and easily
understood, and it does sway consumers’ behavior. As for almonds, consumers give higher prices
to unsalted almonds over salted almonds with the plain label and the traffic
light label. Note that the amount of
sodium in salted almonds used in the experiment has not yet reached the red
light level. As such, consumers were
making comparisons between the green and the amber lights.
Comparisons of bidding prices under the
plain label and the traffic light label
|
|
Plain Label
|
Traffic Light Label
|
|
Grilled Seaweed
|
9.56
Baht
|
11.47 Baht
|
|
Fried Seaweed
|
10.29 Baht
|
10.58 Baht
|
The
experiments were conducted on two groups of participants, the uninformed and
informed ones. The informed group was
given additional information about the meanings of different FOP labels. Informed consumers react positively to the
monochrome GDA label, since they are willing to pay higher prices for all food
products. The healthier foods, in
particular, receive much higher premiums relative to the less healthy
choices. Nevertheless, the traffic light
label is highly recommended, as it could still influence consumers’
decisions. For uninformed consumers,
grilled seaweed and fried seaweed receive the same willingness to pay, whilst
salted almonds result in a higher willingness to pay. But when information is provided, grilled
seaweed and unsalted almonds now receive higher values.