The recommendations on the format of food labelling presented in the previous section
do not distinguish between factors that gain attention and assist knowledge acquisition.
There is however, some evidence of compliance (the impact of the factors on consumer
behaviour) because the recommendations are predominantly based on empirical
findings. This section will provide an overview of the literature available on format and
presentation factors that gain attention, aid knowledge acquisition and achieve
compliance. The review was focused on the format of all mandatory label information;
however the majority of articles examining format were related to a small number of
mandatory items: mandatory warning and advisory statements and declarations;
labelling of ingredients; and nutrition information.
When talking about the factors that impact on how people process information there
appeared to be a lot of overlap between content and format. Many articles did not
distinguish these concepts; instead a more global perspective of food labels was taken
which viewed content and format together. This was a complexity of the review and
findings on format in isolation are presented wherever possible.
This section presents the factors that have been reported to gain people’s attention,
followed by those factors which impact on knowledge acquisition. Within each of these
sections evidence of how these factors impact on behaviour (compliance) are included.