Serving Size Information and Portion Control Cues on Energy-Dense Nutrient-Poor Packaged Snacks in Australian Supermarkets: Current Practices and Opportunities

TL;DR

This study examines how serving size information and portion control cues on snack packaging in Australian supermarkets can influence consumer choices.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the current use of visual and structural cues on discretionary snack packaging for portion control.

Findings

Most packaged snacks were share packs, with less than half having front-of-pack images aligned with serving sizes.

Structural features like transparency and resealability were present in less than 30% of snacks.

Opportunities exist to improve on-pack cues to help consumers make better portion size decisions.

Abstract

Packaged discretionary foods that are energy-dense and nutrient-poor are widely available in the current food environment, potentially contributing to overconsumption and excessive energy intake over time. Factors such as on-pack visual cues (for example, front-of-pack image and food units per serving) and structural features (for example, package transparency) have an important role in nudging consumers towards better portion control. As little is known regarding the presence of these features on packaged discretionary foods in the current retail context, this study aimed to examine the presence of such cues on packaged discretionary foods in Australian supermarkets. Six common packaged snacks were selected: ice-cream, chocolate, lollies, sweet biscuits, savoury biscuits and crisps. Data were collected by in-store visits and using retail websites. A total of 1930 products were included; the majority were share packs (n = 1419, 73.5%), followed by multipacks (n = 385, 19.9%) and single packs (n = 126, 6.5%). Less than half of the share pack products (47%) had front-of-pack images aligned with the manufacturer-suggested serving sizes on the Nutrition Information Panel. Structural features, including transparency, partitioning and resealability, were less common and identified in less than 30% of packaged snacks. Overall, the findings showed that on-pack visual cues and structural features are not commonly used for portion control in packaged discretionary foods in Australian retail settings. Opportunities exist to improve on-pack cues and guides to support better portion size decisions.