An evaluation and exploration of Irish food-service businesses' uptake of and attitudes towards a voluntary government-led menu energy (calorie) labelling initiative
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Date
2018-08-16
Authors
Fitzgerald, Sarah
Gilgan, Lauri
McCarthy, Mary
Perry, Ivan J.
Geaney, Fiona
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Nutrition Society
Published Version
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the uptake of and attitudes towards a voluntary government-led energy (calorie) menu labelling initiative in Ireland among a representative sample of food-service businesses and to inform further actions that may need to be undertaken to facilitate successful implementation. Design: A mixed-methods approach, incorporating a national telephone survey, structured observation visits and semi-structured interviews. Setting: Twenty-six counties in the Republic of Ireland. Subjects: A random selection of food-service businesses (n 604) participated in the telephone survey. Businesses which indicated that they did display calories were selected to participate in structured observation visits (n 42), along with a random sample (n 38) of businesses that did not display calories. A purposive sample of thirteen food-service business owners who participated in the telephone survey participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: In the telephone survey, 7 % (n 42) of food businesses reported displaying calories and the observation visits revealed that of these businesses, 10 % (n 4) were not displaying calorie information. Three major themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews: uncertainty, impact on business and consumer nutrition knowledge. Participants expressed concerns regarding inaccuracies in the calorie information, cost and time implications, mistrust in the food-service industry and poor nutritional knowledge among consumers. These concerns impeded the implementing of calorie menu labelling. Conclusions: A multifactorial approach that incorporates guidance and support (training/tax incentives), practical assistance (user-friendly calorie calculation software), a reasonable legislative structure and a standardised monitoring system is needed to facilitate the successful implementation of calorie menu labelling.
Description
Keywords
Calorie menu labelling , Calorie menu posting , Menu labelling , Food-service businesses
Citation
Fitzgerald, S., Gilgan, L., McCarthy, M., Perry, I. J. and Geaney, F. (2018) 'An evaluation and exploration of Irish food-service businesses' uptake of and attitudes towards a voluntary government-led menu energy (calorie) labelling initiative', Public Health Nutrition, pp. 1-14. doi:10.1017/S1368980018001969
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Copyright
© 2018, the Authors. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Nutrition Society. All rights reserved.