UK researchers have set out to determine the potential impact of such labels on food choices, especially meat consumption.
Could the model of anti-smoking messages have the same impact if transposed to meat consumption? This is what British researchers have set out to determine.
Some of them were invited to choose around 20 different vegetarian or meat dishes from an online menu. The meat dishes were associated with warning messages and pictures, similar to those seen on cigarette packets. The risk of another pandemic seemed to be the most convincing argument, since it reduced the choice of meat-based options by 10%, compared with 8.8% for health consequences and 7.4% for climate impact.
“Our findings of the effectiveness of health, climate, and pandemic warning labels on hypothetical meat meal selection should be considered in light of how resistant to change meat consumption habits are,” the experts wrote.