What if understanding nutrition labels were as easy as reading a traffic light?
Green for “go,” amber for “caution” and red for “stop” could guide consumers toward healthier food choices. The United Kingdom has used this “traffic light” system since 2006 to promote better dietary decisions, and a recent study led by a University of Florida doctoral graduate is exploring its potential benefits for the United States.
Xuqi “Ricky” Chen, now an assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, collaborated with UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department Chair Lisa House, professor Zhifeng Gao and doctoral student Yujuan Gao to investigate whether color-coded nutrition facts panels (NFPs) could enhance consumers’ use of nutrition labels to make healthier choices.
“As a behavioral economist, I recognized that while nutrition labels are rich with information, they are often too complex for consumers to quickly interpret,” Chen said. “Our research sought to determine if integrating the traffic light color-coding system could simplify this process and nudge consumers toward healthier decisions.”
As described in a recently published study, Chen’s team discovered color-coded NFPs can attract more attention and make it easier for consumers to make purchase decisions and make healthier choices. They also reduce the time needed for such decisions. The team’s findings are based on the observations of 571 adults who evaluated packaged salad kits or chips with either traditional black-and-white or color-coded labels and different levels of fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugar.
First, the study demonstrated that color-coded labels drew significantly more attention than traditional black-and-white labels, particularly highlighting nutrients such as fat, sodium and sugar, which should be limited. On average, respondents in the chip group were more successful at identifying differences on colored labels (55.6%) compared to black-and-white ones (49.8%). This effect was more significant for products like chips, where the differences in nutrient levels were less obvious, but less pronounced for salad kits, which consumers were able to identify as healthier, regardless of label format.
The color-coded system also simplified the decision-making process. Participants found it easier to process nutritional information and make purchasing decisions when presented with the colored labels. This made more of a difference with products featuring more complex nutritional content, like chips, where the labels helped clarify distinctions between healthier and less healthy options.
Additional comparisons demonstrated color’s ability to guide more accurate assessments of healthiness, to encourage healthier choices and to make them in less time when used on chip packaging nutrition labels. Color did not, however, make a significant difference in these variables when applied to salad kit packaging labels.
Finally, the color-coded labels helped consumers make decisions more quickly. The time needed to evaluate the healthiness of a product was significantly reduced for chips when using the color-coded system. This demonstrates how visual aids can decrease mental load and enable quicker, more informed decision-making.
“One potential explanation for such an outcome is that the salad kits are relatively easier for the respondents to figure out the healthiness of the products due to the more obvious different amounts of calories in different profiles,” according to the study.
“Our research demonstrates the promise of color-coded NFPs, especially for complex or less obviously healthy products,” said Chen. “These labels could be a practical tool for policymakers aiming to enhance public health through better-informed food choices.”
The researchers plan to continue exploring the topic to better understand how consumers search for, process and act on nutrition information. They also intend to build on this foundational study by exploring broader applications of color-coding, refining label designs and assessing the long-term effects on consumer behavior.
“This study is only the first attempt to integrate the traffic light color scheme on nutrient fact labels, and we’re optimistic that further refinements could potentially yield even better results,” Chen said. “We hope policymakers will consider integrating these insights into future labeling regulations, making healthy eating an easier choice for everyone.”
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The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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