Sinne Smed

Effects of Household Consumption Patterns on CO2 Requirements

In order to evaluate the relation between the consumption pattern of various household types and their CO2 requirements, we combine input-output tables energy flow matrices, CO2 emissions factors, and national consumer survey statistics into an integrated modelling framework, and relate differences in household types to differences in private consumption and again to differences in CO2 emissions. We identify household characteristics with a significant influence on CO2 emissions. Comparing our results with those of other studies reveals that national differences in climate and population density cause differences in the contribution to CO2 emissions. Finally, national differences in income and expenditure elasticities of both energy and CO2 are due to differences in the disparity in CO2 intensities amongst commodities and to the models assumptions on foreign technology.

Cost-effective design of economic instruments in nutrition policy

This paper addresses the potential for using economic regulation, e.g. taxes or subsidies, as instruments to combat the increasing problems of inappropriate diets, leading to health problems such as obesity, diabetes 2, cardiovascular diseases etc. in most countries. Such policy measures may be considered as alternatives or supplements to other regulation instruments, including information campaigns, bans or enhancement of technological solutions to the problems of obesity or related diseases. 7 different food tax and subsidy instruments or combinations of instruments are analysed quantitatively. The analyses demonstrate that the average cost-effectiveness with regard to changing the intake of selected nutritional variables can be improved by 10–30 per cent if taxes/subsidies are targeted against these nutrients, compared with targeting selected food categories. Finally, the paper raises a range of issues, which need to be investigated further, before firm conclusions about the suitability of economic instruments in nutrition policy can be drawn.

Food safety information and food demand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how news about food‐related health risks affects consumers’ demands for safe food products.Design/methodology/approach – By identifying structural breaks in an econometrically estimated demand model, news with permanent impact on demand is distinguished from news with temporary impact. The Danish demand for pasteurized versus shell eggs is used as an illustrative case.Findings – Negative safety news about one product variety can provide significant stimulation to the demand for safe varieties. Severe negative news about the safety of shell eggs induces a permanent increase in the demand for pasteurized eggs, while more moderate negative news influences demand temporarily and to a lesser extent. There is, however, considerable variation in the response to food safety news across socio‐demographic groups of consumers.Research limitations/implications – The study has focused on the demand for raw eggs. Responses to food safety news may differ across foods. Fu...

Improving Eco-labelling as an Environmental Policy Instrument: Knowledge, Trust and Organic Consumption

Abstract Eco-labels have an import role in promoting green consumption since most eco-labelled products are credence goods, implying that the valued process attributes they contain are not observable to the consumer even after purchase or consumption. Therefore, the consumers rely heavily on eco-labels as a reassurance that these attributes are actually delivered. We argue that the label will only have the desired effect if the consumers know the production standards underpinning it and have trust in the label. We test this argument using organic food as our example. The empirical results obtained on the basis of our analysis of Danish purchasing data on actual purchases combined with detailed survey data show that the higher the level of knowledge of labelling attributes and the higher the degree of trust in the label, the more likely consumers are to buy organic food.

Are taxes on fatty foods having their desired effects on health

We don’t know because governments are not instigating the most appropriate evaluations

Use of Linear Programming to Develop Cost-Minimized Nutritionally Adequate Health Promoting Food Baskets.

Background Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) are developed to promote healthier eating patterns, but increasing food prices may make healthy eating less affordable. The aim of this study was to design a range of cost-minimized nutritionally adequate health-promoting food baskets (FBs) that help prevent both micronutrient inadequacy and diet-related non-communicable diseases at lowest cost. Methods Average prices for 312 foods were collected within the Greater Copenhagen area. The cost and nutrient content of five different cost-minimized FBs for a family of four were calculated per day using linear programming. The FBs were defined using five different constraints: cultural acceptability (CA), or dietary guidelines (DG), or nutrient recommendations (N), or cultural acceptability and nutrient recommendations (CAN), or dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations (DGN). The variety and number of foods in each of the resulting five baskets was increased through limiting the relative share of individual foods. Results The one-day version of N contained only 12 foods at the minimum cost of DKK 27 (€ 3.6). The CA, DG, and DGN were about twice of this and the CAN cost ~DKK 81 (€ 10.8). The baskets with the greater variety of foods contained from 70 (CAN) to 134 (DGN) foods and cost between DKK 60 (€ 8.1, N) and DKK 125 (€ 16.8, DGN). Ensuring that the food baskets cover both dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations doubled the cost while cultural acceptability (CAN) tripled it. Conclusion Use of linear programming facilitates the generation of low-cost food baskets that are nutritionally adequate, health promoting, and culturally acceptable.

Principles behind evaluations of national food and beverage taxes and other regulatory efforts

Dear Editor, Considerable controversy surrounds taxes and other regulatory policies (such as restricting marketing to children and setting mandatory standards for foods available in schools) being implemented around the world to discourage unhealthy eating. Thus, it is imperative that, where implemented, these policies are evaluated to the highest standard, considering the specific elements of how the taxes and regulations are designed, existing consumption trends and any weaknesses in the available data used. A crucial way to ensure a high-quality evaluation is to ensure that the evaluation team has the competency, skills and experience to conduct the evaluation. They must also be independent and have no conflicts of interest with regard to the findings. Another mechanism to support high-quality evaluations is to establish an independent advisory committee to provide oversight over the evaluation. Such mechanisms can (i) provide advice on the data utilized and the methods considered for each evaluation; (ii) review and provide rigorous feedback on preliminary results and methodologies and interpretation of results; (iii) review final papers and provide critical feedback; and (iv) provide credibility and transparency to the evaluation of implemented policies. Such a committee has been put into place to provide guidance to and oversight of the evaluations of implemented taxes and regulations in Latin America (e.g. Mexico’s sugary beverage and ‘junk food’ taxes; Chile’s mandatory frontof-package labelling). The Mexico beverage tax Evaluation Advisory Committee comprises global experts with knowledge and skills in public health, economics, nutrition, epidemiology and marketing along with broader policy scholars who understand critical contextual issues. No members have conflicts of interest with regard to any entity that might be affected financially by evaluation results. To guide our work, we have developed the following seven core principles to ensure that the evaluations are conducted to the highest possible standard.

The Diet-related GHG Index: construction and validation of a brief questionnaire-based index

The aim was to construct and validate a cost-efficient index to measure GHG emissions (GHGe) caused by Danish consumers’ diets to be employed in questionnaire-based surveys. The index was modelled on the basis of actual food purchase data from a panel of ordinary Danish households and a questionnaire consisting of food frequency questions issued to the same panel. Based on the purchase data, diet-related GHGe were calculated for 2012. The data was then split into a learning sample and a validation sample. The index was constructed using the learning sample where a scoring procedure was calculated from responses to the questionnaire-based food frequency questions that predicted diet-related GHGe. Subsequently, the index scoring procedure was employed on the validation sample and the empirical relevance of the index was examined. In the learning sample, a scoring procedure to construct the index was developed on basis of 13 food frequency questions. In the validation sample, the index accounted for considerable variation in diet-related GHGe. Furthermore, the index was associated with the same socio-demographic and attitudinal factors as identified with calculated diet-related GHGe using food purchase data. Surprisingly, in this analysis, people’s sense of obligation to do something about global warming did not lead to decreased GHGe. Higher social status and gastronomic interest, meanwhile, led to increased GHGe. The index can be used in future questionnaire surveys as a cost-efficient way to estimate diet-related GHG emissions of Danish consumers. Since the index is responsive to relevant socio-demographic and attitudinal factors, it can be utilised to monitor key attitudinal/habitual and socio-demographic drivers of change.

Country Differences in the History of Use of Health Claims and Symbols

Health-related claims and symbols are intended as aids to help consumers make informed and healthier food choices but they can also stimulate the food industry to develop food that goes hand in hand with a healthier lifestyle. In order to better understand the role that health claims and symbols currently have and in the future potentially can have, the objective of the CLYMBOL project (“Role of health-related claims and symbols in consumer behaviour”, Grant no 311963) is to investigate consumers’ understanding of health claims and symbols, and how they affect purchasing and consumption [1]. As part of this endeavour, it is important to understand the history of use of claims and symbols in Europe. What have consumers been exposed to and how were these health-related messages used and discussed among the public? In this study, we interviewed key stakeholders across Europe about how health claims have been regulated in their country, how health symbols have been and currently are being treated, what form of monitoring there is or should be and how both health claims and symbols have been debated in the public opinion. In 26 European Union (EU) Member States, opinions from 53 key informants from up to three different stakeholder groups were gathered: national food authorities, representatives of the food industry, and consumer organisations. While 14 Member States reported (at least partial) regulation of the use of health claims and/or symbols before the introduction of the EU Regulation (EC 1924/2006) on nutrition and health claims made on foods [2], mandatory reporting of use had only been in place in three EU Member States. A number of voluntary codes of practice for health claims and/or symbols (i.e. pre-approval or justification when challenged) was said to be in use in 15 Member States. There are only a few national databases on health claims and symbols available, the data for which is often incomplete. Only eight Member States reported having some form of database from which information about health claims and symbols could be extracted. The stakeholders interviewed expressed a strong interest in measuring the impact of health claims and symbols, particularly research into the effects on consumer behaviour (e.g. awareness and understanding, attitudes towards products carrying claims and symbols and purchase/consumption effects), public health (health outcomes and changes in national health status due to the introduction of claims and symbols on food products) and economic aspects including sales, return on investment and reputation measurements. Public debates were said to have evolved around the topics of consumer understanding of claims, acceptance as well as trust in the information presented but also the effects on vulnerable groups such as children and elderly consumers. Another field of debate was said to have been the question of the effectiveness of health claims and symbols. Lastly, stakeholders reported that public debates focussed mainly on the legislative aspects, i.e. how to apply the EU Regulation (No 1924/2006) with regards to wording issues, the evaluation process at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the status of various claims and the nutrient profile modelling to be introduced in Europe.

The consequences of unemployment on diet composition and purchase behaviour: a longitudinal study from Denmark

OBJECTIVE To explore and describe quantitatively the effect over time of unemployment on food purchase behaviour and diet composition. DESIGN Longitudinal data from 2008-2012, with monthly food purchase data aligned with register data on unemployment measured as a dichotomous indicator as well as a trend accounting for the duration. SETTING A household panel which registers daily food purchases combined with detailed nutritional information and registration of the duration of unemployment at individual level. The structure of the data set facilitates the detection of effects or associations between duration of unemployment and diet composition, purchase behaviour in terms of food expenditure, and share of food purchased on offer and in discounters while controlling for important confounding factors. SUBJECTS Danish households of working age (n 3440) adjusted to household equivalents. We use fixed-effects econometric methods to control for unobserved heterogeneity. RESULTS In the short run, unemployment led to substitution in favour of discount stores and increases in food expenditure and in consumption of saturated fat, total fat and protein due to increased consumption of animal-based foods. In the medium run food expenditure declined together with consumption of fresh animal-based foods and saturated fat, total fat and protein. In the even longer run these nutrients were substituted by carbohydrates and added sugar. CONCLUSIONS Unemployment has a substantial influence on diet composition, but effects vary with duration of the unemployment period, which may have potential health implications. This ought to be taken into consideration in evaluations of existing reforms and in future reforms of welfare systems.