commitment
Health Star
Rating:
an executive summary
of our consumer research
December 2014 contents
Lion to adopt the new Health Star Rating 4
Why stars and energy? 5
Consumer research methodology 5
Key research observations and findings 6
— The current role of nutrition information on pack 6
— Reactions to the Health Star Rating 11
— Preferred Health Star Rating device 14
What else will Lion be doing? 15
—3—
to adopt the new
Health Star Rating
Lion is proud to be adopting the Health
Star Rating system across our portfolio,
along with additional information
on energy, over the next four years
— starting with our largest categories,
milk and juice.
This will be supported by education information
to help consumers make better and more
informed product choices.
Based on our consumer research, and as part
of our commitment to providing consumers
with simple, clear and transparent product
information, we will adopt the Health Star
Rating, along with additional information
on energy — including energy per 100g/mL,
energy per serve/pack, and energy as a
percentage of an adult’s (average) daily intake.
Within two years we will have the Health Star
Rating system on a significant proportion of
our portfolio, with 100% adoption by 2018.
Adopting best practice front of pack labelling
is part of our Goodness Project commitments
to help bring more natural goodness to every
Australian and we are pleased to be able to
help deliver this consumer education tool
to the community. We hope this move will
help encourage more Australians to enjoy
the goodness of dairy and juice as part of a
balanced diet, and increase their nutritional
literacy and ability to make healthier choices.
Our labelling changes will be supplemented
by other on and off-pack education initiatives
to help consumers make more informed
product choices.
To learn more about the broader Goodness
Project commitments, visit the Lion website:
www.lionco.com
We believe this retains and builds on the
cut-through achieved by the Australian
Food and Grocery Council’s Daily Intake
Guide over the past several years, as well
as delivering more at-a-glance information
for interested consumers.
For more information on the Health Star
Rating visit the government website:
www.healthstarrating.gov.au
What consumers will see on Lion products:
100g/mL: allows product comparisons.
Qualifier:
encourages
consumer to read
the information
back of pack.
Star icon: assesses
nutrient density
of a product,
with a rating from
0.5 — 5 stars (best).
Per serve/pack: provides information on actual consumption, in
consumer friendly terms, e.g. tub, cup, glass. This is complemented
by percentage daily intake (%DI) for the remaining nutrients listed
in the nutrition information panel.
—4—
Why stars and energy?
Consumer research
methodology
Lion’s research confirmed consumers
are seeking more information about
which products to choose and why.
Lion commissioned two external
agencies, Reality Check and Nature,
to work in partnership to undertake
focused consumer research. A mixed
method approach, comprising both
qualitative and quantitative components,
was employed to obtain statistical as
well as contextual findings. All fieldwork
was conducted from 2 July 2014 to
16 July 2014.
With a growing interest in health,
people are looking for more nutrition
information — especially when buying
new products. The new Health Star Rating,
with additional information on energy,
will provide consumers with a simple,
at-a-glance reference front of pack.
This is designed to help guide informed
choices, and be supported by further
product information on the back of pack.
The qualitative component involved
ten 30-minute group discussions with
4-6 participants in each — totalling 58
participants and spanning a broad range
of demographics. These discussions
were conducted in participant homes
in both inner and outer metro regions of
Sydney and Melbourne. The quantitative
component involved a nationally
representative sample (by gender, age
and location) of 1000 respondents aged
18-70 years, completing a 5-minute online
survey. All participants were randomLy
invited from an online research panel.
In both components, the following
three key topics were explored:
1. T
he current role of nutrition
information on pack
2. Reactions to Health Star Rating and
likely implications on behaviour
3. The Preferred Health Star Rating device
—5—
research observations
and findings
The current role
of nutrition
information
on pack
Consumers tend to check
nutrition information on pack
when buying new products,
however this is less common
when purchasing staple items
Checking nutrition information
is common practice when
buying new products, noting
that yoghurt and juice are
more scrutinised in this regard
(see Chart I). It is, however,
much less common when
it comes to re-purchasing
products, especially for white
milk (Chart II), suggesting
people tend to ‘set and forget’
once a product has been
adopted into their repertoire.
Chart I:
Frequency of checking nutrition information on pack
— when buying a new product
Never
rarely
Yoghurt
occasionally
15%
Juice/juice drinks
most of the time
14%
18%
27%
14%
24%
29%
24%
17%
27%
Iced coffee
24%
17%
28%
Everyday cheese
24%
White milk
37%
Speciality cheese
33%
21%
15%
19%
25%
20%
20%
24%
Flavoured milk
21%
all the time
17%
23%
13%
19%
12%
18%
11%
14%
12%
14%
Question: When you’re buying the products above, how often do you look
at the nutrition information on the packaging?
Base: Have purchased category in past 6 months n=348 to 940
—6—
10%
Although it varies from person to person, there are signs
the underlying health trends are driving more frequent
checking of nutrition information on pack. Consumers
are becoming more educated and are setting their own
benchmarks for everyday products.
Consumer
sentiment:
“There’s a time factor,
a convenience factor
and a reliability factor,
the ones that you have
always bought, it’s your
go to product and you
just trust them.”
Chart II:
Frequency of checking nutrition information on pack —
when buying a product you’ve bought before
Never
rarely
occasionally
most of the time
all the time
Iced coffee
37%
Juice/juice drinks
36%
25%
23%
12% 5%
Yoghurt
36%
26%
23%
11% 4%
24%
11% 3%
Flavoured milk
White milk
Everyday cheese
Speciality cheese
19%
40%
25%
22%
52%
43%
13%
21%
26%
48%
22%
13%
5%
8% 5%
20%
8% 4%
18%
8% 3%
Question: When you’re buying the products above, how often do you look
at the nutrition information on the packaging?
Base: Have purchased in past 6 months n=349 to 945
—7—
“We started using them
(NIP panels) when we
started looking at our
sugar intake, just to get
an idea, and you get a
base line. I know what
bread and milk are
now, the basics.”
“To be honest I never
look at them but,
my partner looks
at everything, very
health conscious.
I am the opposite.”
Sugar and fat are of most interest
to consumers when examining
on pack information
Consumer
sentiment:
“I looked at yoghurt
and it was the sugar
element.”
The sugar and fat content are the most examined
information items on pack (see Table I). Consumers are
becoming used to quickly checking highly accessible claims
such as ‘less sugar’, ‘less fat’ and ‘light’ which are usually
located front of pack or in bold text.
“I like to see how much
sugar is in things.”
“I look at the added
sugar and the sugar
that’s already there.”
“I look at the sugar
and fat and compare
a few items.”
Table I:
Top 3 nutrition information people pay attention to by category
Order
Yoghurt
Flavoured
milk
Juice/juice
drinks
Iced Coffee
Everyday
cheese
Speciality
cheese
White milk
1
Sugars
Sugars
Sugars
Sugars
Fats
Fats
Fats
2
Fats
Fats
Ingredient
list
Fats
Sodium
Ingredient
list
Sugars
3
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Energy
(Cal/kJ)
Calcium
Question: And when you’re buying the products above and you do look at the nutrition information,
which things do you pay the most attention to?
Base: Have purchased in past 6 months and at least sometimes look at nutrition information
Consumer
sentiment:
“I find it confusing
because I work in
calories and they
put kilojoules.”
Energy (calories/kilojoules) ranks 3rd or 4th depending
on the category in question but are not universally
understood. Those unfamiliar with kilojoules are not
clear how they relate to calories or energy.
“I know I am meant to
have 2300 calories
a day, so how many
kilojoules is that?”
“Don’t get that.
What’s energy?”
—8—
Consumers would like more
context around what ‘per serve’
means for them
People are currently less used to ‘per 100mL’, ‘per 250mL’
or ‘per serve’ assessments. There was mixed response to
the ‘per serve’ claim without meaningful quantification
of what constitutes a ‘serve’. Some believe it to be an easy
reckoner if based on ‘average daily serve amounts’ yet
some felt that serve sizes can differ by person and current
suggestions on pack are perceived to be too small.
There was desire, however, for ‘per serve’ to state
the ‘average serve’ size based on weight or volume for
recommended healthy consumption and to be illustrated
using alternatives like ‘cup’, spoonful or handful (refer
to Table II for consumer suggestions).
Consumer
sentiment:
“It’s (per mL) difficult
sometimes, it depends
on the size of the
product.”
“It can get tricky
sometimes with the
per serve, because
you read that, but then
there will be three
serves in the packet.”
“I hate per serve
because the serve sizes
are all over the place.”
“Serve sizes are never
big enough.”
“Each different label will
have a different serving
size, and will choose
it based on the daily
intake to make it look
better for you.”
—9—
Table II:
Consumer suggestions on meaningful serve sizes
Product
Volume
Measurement
Yoghurt
250-300g or 100g
Single tub (small) or 3-4
spoonfuls (if adding to a
dish, e.g. cereal)
Consumer Sentiment
“I eat a tub of yoghurt, one of those
small tubs, that is 300g”
“It depends how you use it, on cereal
I go by spoonfuls, it’s very individual,
3 or 4 spoonfuls”
“Children have their own sizes.
They’re only little”
Juice
250mL or 400mL
Glass/cup
“Juice should be a smaller serve size”
Milk
250mL or 400mL
Glass/cup
“Larger cup, 400mL”
“The serves are usually quite small,
it’s usually 250mL, and typically
you might drink 350 — 400mL”
Cheese
25g, 50g 2 slices for
1 person
2 slices
1 handful
1 cupful
“Grated cheese, a handful”
“A cup”
“50g?”
Source: Qualitative component
Both ‘energy per 100g/
mL’ and percentage daily
intake (%DI) featured
lower on the list.
While ‘energy per 100g/
mL’ is helpful to compare
between products
within a category,
percentage daily intake
(%DI) seems to carry
significant weight with
consumers. Translation
to an ‘average’ person’s
daily needs addresses
poor understanding of
kilojoules, particularly
amongst those that are
more health conscious.
Education, however, will
be required for those
uncertain on how an
‘average’ person’s daily
intake relates to exercise
and energy outputs.
Consumer sentiment:
“Daily intake is less thinking for me. It’s efficient;
I don’t have to do the workings out.”
“It needs an extra column of what you’re consuming,
daily intake percentages, what you are consuming in
this container.”
“... it would be good to have, say, put in your height and
weight and have recommended kilojoule intake per day
so match that up in percentage terms what that works
out to be your total intake per day.”
“Per serve, say 10% of the product that would be, say 100g
and that can be worked out with the dietary intake per
day. So, if you have 50g of cheese, it might be your dietary
intake is whatever they are recommending.”
“I feel like the percentage is a bit more relatable, the
percentage of daily intake — you can understand it.”
— 10 —
Reactions to the Health Star Rating
The Health Star Rating was broadly welcomed
and understood as ‘5’ is better, ‘1’ is worse.
Despite some confusion around aspects of the nutrition
information panel, the Health Star Rating is very familiar
to people through the use of a similar system in other
categories (e.g. water and electrical energy). The frontof-pack Health Star Rating device can act as a simple,
at-a-glance reference to help guide healthier choices
and has a high likelihood of being taken up by consumers
(see Chart III).
— 11 —
Consumer
sentiment:
“The more stars,
the less fat, less sugar,
overall better for you
for you healthy living.”
“1 star, not very good for
you, 5 stars is good for
you, that is a pretty easy
reference.”
“I often can’t figure
out what I’m consuming,
so to have it would
be much easier.”
Consumer
sentiment:
“I don’t fully understand
the Health Star Ratings,
but there seemed to be
a lot of inconsistencies
with my perception
of some yoghurts.”
Participants were quick to compare products across
categories (especially in drinks), raising some questions
on how to use the Health Star Rating and how it is
calculated. Questions were also raised in instances
where the Health Star Rating seemed to contradict
popular belief which could encourage examination
and re-examination of products.
Source: Qualitative & Quantitative component (through open-ended questioning)
“Daily Juice was a
more healthy choice
than I first thought.”
“I know that some
yoghurt is not as good
for you as you may
assume, it is good
to have the star
rating system.”
“I don’t understand how
my Greek yoghurt has
one star? It must be
based on fat because
it’s got no sugars in it
and my understanding
is that it’s healthy, so I
disagree with the stars.”
“If I was surprised by the
rating I’d look at the
nutrition information
more closely. Greek
yoghurt is supposed
to have lowest carb
and no sugar.”
Chart III:
Chart III. The likelihood
of reading the Health
Star Rating information
on pack
26%
VERY LIKELY
49%
Question: Firstly, if this
information was included on
food and drink packaging, how
likely do you think you would be
to read it when choosing which
products to buy?
Base: Total sample n=1037
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
VERY UNLIKELY
15%
10%
The Health Star Rating draws people towards products
in general. There are claimed changes in purchasing
decisions on the basis of the Health Star Rating, expected
to be most prevalent in lower rated products, especially:
— If consumption is more frequent
— If ranged side-by-side at point of purchase with
alternative competitor choices with a higher rating
— Where no discernible taste difference
or preference exists.
Consumer
sentiment:
“It (Star Ratings) might
put you off some things,
but with things you
know aren’t great,
it wouldn’t affect
me as much.”
“Personally I drink
it because I want it,
disregarding health
reasons.”
Brands or categories perceived to be a more occasional
‘treat’ are likely to warrant less attention in the short
term. However, increased repeat exposure to higher rated
alternatives may prompt trial or switching over time.
Consumers may correlate the Health Star Rating with
taste, price and quality. A high rating can imply a healthy,
quality product, whilst a low rating may cue a better
tasting product.
Consumer
sentiment:
“2.5 sounds about right.
You know if you’re going
to drink flavoured milk
it’s not going to be the
best thing for you. But,
it tastes good.”
“Greek yoghurt is that
low? Shame — but,
I love it so much (the
taste), I’d still eat it
regularly.”
— 13 —
Consumer
sentiment:
“It contains the most
information about
the product.”
“It gives all the
information at
a glance.”
Preferred Health Star Rating device
There is a clear preference for the more detailed Health
Star Rating (Chart IV), with over 50% of participants
selecting the Health Star Rating, energy per 100g/mL
and energy per serve. Younger consumers lean towards
the percentage daily intake (%DI) option as a second
preference, while older consumers lean towards the
energy/mL. This was further validated by the consumer
qualitative research.
“Contains the most
information.”
“Has both the energy
levels per 100mL and
250mL.”
“Because it shows
how many kJ per 100mL
and per 250mL serve.
Comparison can be
calculated with
this info.”
“It’s good that it has the
daily intake percentage,
if you have that and the
per serve, then I think
it works best.”
Chart IV:
Chart IV: Rank your preference on the Health Star Rating
options
first
second
32%
0000kJ
third
34%
34%
PER 100g
0000kJ
0000kJ
PER 100g
PER SERVE
51%
0 % DI *
0000kJ
0 % DI *
17%
22%
44%
27%
39%
PER SERVE
Question: Please rank these labels from the one you’d most like to see on
packs (1) to the one you’d least like to see on packs (3).
Base: Total sample n=1037
— 14 —
What else will Lion be doing?
We will make it even easier for consumers to understand what’s in our products and how
to use them, by enhancing the nutrition and product information, both on and off the pack
— over the next five years.
This includes increasing accessibility to product information, such as at the point of sale,
when out and about, and at home. This will be underpinned by consumer research, aiming
to address their current and future needs.
For any additional information or queries you may have, please email: [email protected]
— 15 —