What’s in it for Consumers: Does the Legal Assumption of ‘the Average Consumer’ Reading the List of Ingredients Actually Protect Consumers Against Misleading Food Packaging?

The main assumption in legal decisions on misleading food packaging is that consumers read the list of ingredients when purchasing food products (CJEU Teekanne). This study examines whether this assumption reflects actual consumer behaviour in a supermarket context. Specifically, it investigates whether the number of choice options (few vs. many), consumers’ Need for Cognition (NfC), and purchase intention (healthy vs. tasty product) influence consumers’ reading and remembering ingredient lists. Participants (n = 379) took part in a 2x2 experimental design, manipulating the number of yoghurt package options (two vs. five) and purchase task (healthy vs. tasty), along with a pre-test and a post-test. The study recorded the duration and frequency of participants’ attention to the ingredient list, their recall of the ingredients, and the influence of NfC on these behaviours. Results show that participants exposed to two packages (vs. five packages) and participants with high NfC (vs. low NfC) looked at the ingredient list significantly more frequently. Although participants tasked with choosing a healthy product looked at the ingredient list more often than those tasked with choosing a tasty product, this difference was not statistically significant. The findings suggest that the legal assumption that the “average consumer” reads the ingredient list when purchasing food products conflicts with actual consumer behaviour. The results indicate the importance of reconsidering this legal assumption, given (1) different information needs of consumers (NfC), (2) the context of supermarkets offering numerous choices, and (3) differing purchase intentions of consumers when buying food products.