Nutrition Marketing on the Front-of-Package: 2007-2014

Objective: The objectives of this research were to describe the proportion of packaged foods with front-­‐of package nutrition marketing or marketing to children that were high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar content, and to delineate changes in the proportions of these foods from 2007 to 2014.

Methods: Front-­‐of-­‐pack nutrition marketing, child marketing, and nutrient criteria from the Nutrition Facts Label on all packaged food items in a large Midwestern supermarket were recorded in 2007 (n = 5,500) and again in 2014 (n = 6,324). Products were coded as high/not high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar according to agreed upon guidelines. The data were weighted by number of product variations and chi-­‐square analyses and frequency distributions were computed.

Results: The proportion of products with front-­‐of-­‐package nutrition marketing increased significantly from 49% in 2007 to 62% in 2014 (p <0.001). Of those products with nutrition marketing in 2014, 44.7% had nutrition marketing and were high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar, compared to 48% in 2007. Only 3.1% of all products were marketed towards children in 2014, compared to 16% in 2007; however, 78.1% of child marketed products also had nutrition marketing in 2014 compared with 71% in 2007. Of those child-­‐marketed products with nutrition marketing, 71.3% were high saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar, which was significantly higher than the 58.6% found in 2007 (p <0.001). The presence of a food company symbol was the most commonly seen marketing tactic in all product categories.

Conclusions: Given the results, consumers should be advised to evaluate products based solely on the Nutrition Facts Label. Child products in 2014 were more likely to have front-­‐of-­‐package nutrition marketing and be high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar. This may suggest that clinicians advise consumers to be weary of products marketed towards children.