Abstract This study aimed to find out how “free-from labelling” shapes consumers’ perception of food products and whether the absence of an ingredient is considered an indicator of improved nutritional value of the product. An online survey was conducted in four European countries: the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, and France (overall N = 1950). Four “free-from labels” (lactose-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, and palm oil-free) were tested using different product categories that these labels typically appear on. Healthiness perception was evaluated by comparing products with the free-from labels to identical products without the labels. Potential predictors for healthiness evaluation and intention to pay a price premium were assessed, including nutrition knowledge, information-seeking on food packages, preference for food naturalness, general health interest, trust in actors in the food domain, and affect regarding the absent ingredients. Products with a free-from label were considered healthier than products without such a label, with the strongest effects occurring for labels indicating that products were free of GMOs and free of palm oil. Some differences were observed among countries in the evaluation of the product-label combinations. Information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and affect were significant predictors of healthiness evaluation. Furthermore, healthiness evaluation, information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and preference for naturalness predicted intention to pay a price premium for products labelled free-from. When shaping consumers’ food shopping behaviour using certain food labels, it is important to know how consumers interpret those labels. A false interpretation of labels might lead to unintended changes in consumer behaviour.

中文翻译：

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欧洲消费者对“不含”标签食品的健康评估

摘要 本研究旨在了解“无标签”如何塑造消费者对食品的看法，以及是否将不含某种成分视为产品营养价值提高的指标。在四个欧洲国家进行了在线调查：英国、瑞典、波兰和法国（总 N = 1950）。使用这些标签通常出现的不同产品类别对四种“不含标签”（不含乳糖、不含麸质、不含转基因生物和不含棕榈油）进行了测试。通过将带有无标签的产品与没有标签的相同产品进行比较来评估健康感知。评估了健康评估和支付溢价意愿的潜在预测因素，包括营养知识、食品包装信息搜索、对食品天然性的偏好、一般健康利益，对食品领域参与者的信任，以及对缺失成分的影响。带有不含标签的产品被认为比没有此类标签的产品更健康，标签的影响最大，表明产品不含转基因生物和棕榈油。在评估产品标签组合时，观察到各国之间存在一些差异。信息寻求、营养知识和情感是健康评估的重要预测因素。此外，健康评估、信息搜索、营养知识和对自然性的偏好预测了为标记为免费的产品支付价格溢价的意愿。在使用某些食品标签塑造消费者的食品购物行为时，了解消费者如何解读这些标签非常重要。