Environmental Menu Labels and Food Selection Among US Adults

Do climate labels on fast food menus affect the sustainability and nutritional quality of food selections?In an online randomized clinical trial of 10 342 US participants, individuals were significantly less likely to select foods with high climate impact or greenhouse gas emissions when menu items had climate grade or high climate impact labels compared with the control condition. Menu items with a climate grade label displaying a scale of all possible grades resulted in, on average, participants selecting foods with lower saturated fat compared with the control condition.These findings suggest that displaying climate labels on menu items, particularly labels with climate grade plus scale designs, may reduce climate impact and improve nutrition of fast food selections.

Corresponding Author: Jennifer Falbe, PhD, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616 (jfalbe@ucdavis.edu).

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