Impact of Messaging Strategy on Consumer Understanding of Food Date Labels.

OBJECTIVE: Explore consumer understanding of the food industry's 2-date labeling system and the relative effectiveness of messages in increasing understanding. DESIGN: Participant understanding of date labels assessed before and after random assignment to 1 of 7 messages explaining the meaning of the labels. SETTING: US online survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk collected responses from July 29, 2019, to August 5, 2019. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 years or older who speak English (n = 2,607). INTERVENTION: Seven message variations. VARIABLES MEASURED: Behaviors, awareness, and understanding of date labeling, and effectiveness of messages and opportunities for improving them. ANALYSIS: Pearson's chi-square test of independence, Wald chi-square test of association, McNemar's test of marginal homogeneity, and logistic regression. RESULTS: The majority of respondents use date labels to make decisions and believe they know what the labels mean; however, only 64.0% and 44.8% knew the general meaning of the Best If Used By and Use By labels, respectively. Even fewer understood their specific meanings. Overall, education increased general understanding to 82.0% for Best If Used By and 82.4% for Use By (P < 0.001). The effectiveness of the educational message did not vary significantly by message variation. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Consumer education is needed to improve understanding of the 2-date labeling system, ultimately improving food safety and decreasing wasted food. This study highlights opportunities for effective educational communication.

Consumer Seafood Waste and the Potential of a 'Direct-from-Frozen' Approach to Prevention.

Few food waste interventions focus on drivers distinct to particular food groups, such as seafood. Given suggestive evidence that seafood may be wasted at exceptionally high rates, and given its environmental, economic and nutritional value, this research provides insights into seafood-specific consumer food waste interventions. We performed three complementary sub-studies to examine consumer and retailer views regarding seafood waste and frozen seafood as well as perceptions of an intervention providing chef-created recipes to promote cooking frozen seafood without defrosting. The findings indicated an openness to a direct-from-frozen intervention among many consumers and retailers, and suggested seven potential barriers to adoption, along with ways to address them. Underlying the potential for this intervention, and more broadly contributing to addressing consumer seafood waste, the research formed the basis of a new "4 Ps" concept model to characterize the drivers of discarded seafood: proficiency, perceptions/knowledge, perishability, and planning/convenience. These factors shape waste through pathways that include behavioral protocols; taste preferences; waste-prevention efforts; and food safety concerns, precautions, and errors. This research suggested the benefit of testing a larger-scale direct-from-frozen intervention using insights from the concept model and, more broadly, the benefits of exploring approaches to food waste prevention rooted in specific food groups.

Nutrition and origin of US chain restaurant seafood.

BACKGROUND: Seafood has a nutritional profile that can be beneficial to human health, which gives it a role to play in healthy diets. In addition, because its production and harvesting can have fewer environmental impacts than some forms of animal protein, it can contribute to sustainable diets. However, the positive health and environmental outcomes are not guaranteed-they depend on how seafood is prepared and served and whether it is sourced from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture industries. OBJECTIVES: We examined the availability and nutritional attributes of seafood meals at chain restaurants in the United States. We assessed nutritional attributes by store type and geography. We also assessed menu labeling for species, production methods, and origin. METHODS: The study population was 159 chain restaurants with 100,948 branch locations in the United States. Data were harvested from online restaurant menus, and the nutritional profile of seafood meals was calculated. RESULTS: The average seafood menu item provides up to 49-61% of the total daily limit of saturated fat, 65% of the total daily limit of sodium, and 58-71% of total daily protein requirement for adult men and women. Restaurant chains located in the Deep South and Ohio River Valley, and casual dining chains nationally, carry seafood meals with more total calories and saturated fat per 100 g than other regions or chain types. Most menu items did not list origin or production methods, which is information that would help consumers make informed decisions. CONCLUSIONS: The added ingredients and cooking methods used at chain restaurants can attenuate the health benefits of seafood. We recommend reformulating menus to reduce portion sizes, total calories, added fat, and sodium content per meal and to improve consumer-facing information about origin and production methods.

Parental Concerns about Child and Adolescent Caffeinated Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake and Perceived Barriers to Reducing Consumption.

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption contributes to obesity and chronic disease. SSB intake in children and adolescents remains well above recommendations and reducing intake is challenging. In addition to high sugar content, SSBs are the predominant source of caffeine among youth. However, whether caffeine in SSBs presents unique barriers to reducing consumption is unknown. Herein, we examine parental concerns about child caffeinated-SSB (CSSB) intake and describe parent-reported barriers to lowering their child's consumption. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 parents of children and adolescents 8-17 years of age. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded using Nvivo™, and key themes were identified. Most parents expressed concern about child CSSB consumption, primarily with regard to dietary (e.g., excess sugar), health (e.g., obesity, diabetes) and/or behavioral (e.g., hyperactivity) consequences of frequent intake. Several key barriers to CSSB restriction were reported, encompassing six emergent themes: widespread availability and accessibility; child non-compliance when asked not to drink CSSBs; peer and cultural influences; negative child response to CSSB restriction; family eating behaviors; and, child preferences for CSSBs versus other beverages. Consideration of these barriers, along with the development of novel approaches to address these challenges, will likely bolster success in interventions aimed at reducing CSSB intake among children and adolescents.