Ordering Groceries Online? Good Luck Finding Nutrition Info

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Online grocery shopping has skyrocketed during the pandemic, but galore websites are making it hard to find nutrition accusation connected products, a caller survey shows.

In the United States, packaged foods are required to person a nutrition facts label, ingredients database and warnings astir communal food allergens, displayed prominently and legibly.

Based connected the caller study, that is not translating good to online market shopping.

Looking astatine a illustration of groceries sold by 9 large online retailers, researchers recovered that required labeling was lone inconsistently displayed. Nutrition facts and ingredients were contiguous and legible astir fractional of the time, portion allergen accusation was seldom given.

It seems the surge successful online buying has gotten up of national regulators, the researchers said.

"Maybe this hasn't truly deed them yet," said survey person Jennifer Pomeranz, an adjunct prof astatine the NYU School of Global Public Health, successful New York City. "But I'd impulse the national agencies to get connected this."

In the meantime, she said, it's successful companies' "best interests" to voluntarily code the user accusation void. The survey recovered that adjacent idiosyncratic websites seemed to person nary azygous argumentation connected displaying nutrition information.

Online market buying was gaining momentum earlier COVID-19, but the pandemic fueled an detonation successful popularity. Surveys bespeak that betwixt 2019 and 2020, the percent of Americans doing astatine slightest immoderate market buying online changeable up, from 19% to 79%.

And it's projected that by adjacent year, online orders volition marque up much than one-fifth of each U.S. market sales, according to Pomeranz's team.

In theory, online buying could marque it easier for consumers — particularly engaged parents — to marque steadfast choices, according to Frances Fleming-Milici, a researcher who was not progressive successful the study.

"I've talked to parents astir their buying experiences successful the market store," said Fleming-Milici, of the University of Connecticut's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. "They're rushed, they person nary clip for differentiating betwixt products."

On apical of that, she noted, their kids are demanding the candy they spot astatine the checkout, portion their ain rumbling stomachs tin marque them bargain foods they different mightiness skip.

Grocery buying online could assistance parents debar those problems, Fleming-Milici said. Unfortunately, she added, this survey shows they are not being provided the merchandise accusation they need.

"This is simply a existent missed opportunity," Fleming-Milici said.

The findings, published Jan. 20 successful the diary Public Health Nutrition, are based connected a sampling of 10 brands of cereal, breadstuff and drinks sold by 9 online retailers. They included Amazon, Walmart, Fresh Direct and market chains similar ShopRite and Safeway.

On average, the survey found, nutrition facts labels were "present, conspicuous and legible" astir 46% of the clip crossed each products. Ingredients lists met that barroom somewhat much often, astatine 54%.

Information connected allergens, meanwhile, was usually missing. A mates of cereals and a breadstuff merchandise had that accusation intelligibly displayed 11% to 33% of the time.

Instead, consumers could much often expect to spot merchandise claims, similar "low sodium" — which are selling tools to connote a merchandise is "healthy."

"People privation information, not obfuscation," Fleming-Milici said.

Often, those claims were disposable connected images of the merchandise itself, the survey found. But successful immoderate cases, retailers' websites besides hyped nutrition-related claims.

According to the researchers, 3 national agencies could perchance instrumentality action: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees nutrient labeling; the Federal Trade Commission, which has authorization implicit online income and nutrient advertising; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides nutrient stamps to eligible Americans. The USDA could besides necessitate online retailers that enactment successful the programme to show each required nutrition information, the researchers noted.

Fleming-Milici agreed that the onus is connected regulators. "I would truly similar to spot argumentation alteration to code this," she said.

She added that having each companies travel the aforesaid rules would "level the playing field" for retailers.

For now, Pomeranz suggested consumers instrumentality with online retailers that consistently supply the required nutrition information. That's harder, she noted, for radical successful the SNAP program, since lone immoderate retailers participate.

Pomeranz besides pointed retired that nutrient labeling is astir much than calorie-counting: People with wellness conditions similar high humor pressure and diabetes request to beryllium cautious astir contented specified arsenic sodium and sugar.

"This is simply a substance of wellness and safety, too," Pomeranz said.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has much connected knowing nutrition labels.

SOURCES: Jennifer Pomeranz, MPH, JD, adjunct professor, nationalist wellness argumentation and management, NYU School of Global Public Health, New York City; Frances Fleming-Milici, PhD, director, selling initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, University of Connecticut, Hartford, Conn.; Public Health Nutrition, Jan. 20, 2022, online