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1. Introduction
Food purchase is the result of decisions based on routines, influenced by physiological and external signs, such as labelling (Bucher et al., 2016; Deng and Srinivasan, 2013). The way the information appears on the food labels is related to consumers' perception and choice (Bauer and Reisch, 2019; Miller and Cassady, 2015; Prada et al., 2017). Label information seeks to guide and empower consumers by increasing information availability on the nutritional characteristics of the food product to make easy consumer choice (Bauer and Reisch, 2019; Brambila-Macias et al., 2011; Campos et al., 2011; Grunert and Wills, 2007). However, in Spain, only 33% of the consumers find useful the information provided on the label, while 34% find confusing the terminology used. Consumers demand simpler (66%), less technical (61%) and larger-print labels (68%) (MPAC, 2019) (see Table 1).
The need for nutritional information that makes food choice simpler is reflected in the market practice and regulation (Bauer and Reisch, 2019; Brambila-Macias et al., 2011). The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls for the development of a consumer-friendly labelling by introducing front-of-pack (FOP) labels that make the nutritional information easy to understand (Bauer and Reisch, 2019); however, mixed results have been reported about their effectiveness (Ikonen et al., 2019). FOP labelling must be relevant, clear and easily understandable to empower consumers to make healthier food choices (Newman et al., 2014). The European Union requires the use of FOP nutrition labelling that provides easy information on the nutritional properties and helps consumers to make healthy food choices. In Spain, the nutritional information of packaged food labels is established according to the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2011, on the provision of food information to consumers (Official Journal of the European Union, 2011). At the end of 2018, Spain decided to implement the summary indicator interpretative label through NutriScore, which will become mandatory for use since the last quarter of 2020.
As shown in Figure 1, NutriScore is a five-level colour scale with letters ranging from grade A (green colour) to grade E (red colour), included on the front of package of food products. The NutriScore grades determine the amount of nutritional value (A...