Consumer attention to labelling and market potential of vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products

Vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products may complement current market offerings to produce value-added foods without altering consumer dietary habits (1) . However, a paucity of information exists regarding consumer insights in relation to nutrition/health claims, animal welfare considerations and appropriate purchase price of vitamin D-(bio)enriched foods.The aim of this research was to assess consumer attention to front-of-pack labelling and market potential of vitamin D-(bio)enriched chicken goujons and pork sausages. Two independent studies were conducted using a mixed-methods approach; eye tracking (study 1) and qualitative elicitation (study 2). Consenting adults aged 18-65 years were recruited for study 1 ( n = 50) and study 2 ( n = 32). In study 1, participants viewed n = 5 front-of-pack food labels of both vitamin D-enriched meat products in a random order (20s/label) (2) using a Tobii T60 eye tracker (Tobii Technology, Stockholm, Sweden). Images for each (bio)enriched product label included a variation of nutrition/health claims, animal welfare certification and various price points. Eight areas of interest (AOI) were defined on labels of both vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products: product name, nutritional information, serving size, price, enriched with vitamin D, source of vitamin D, animal welfare and health claim. Total duration of fixations, number of fixations, time to first fixation and duration of first fixation (ms) were determined for each AOI (3) . Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 29 for windows, Chicago, IL, USA one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc test, p < 0.05 significant. In study 2, transcripts from focus groups ( n = 7; total n = 32 participants) were analysed thematically (4) (NVivo version 12, Lumivero, Denver, CO, USA) to identify emerging ideas such as evaluation of product concept, attitudes to health/nutrition claims and willingness to purchase vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products. Eye tracking results in study 1 demonstrated that product name, serving size and nutrition information gained the greatest consumer attention across both vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products. Nutrition claim ‘source of vitamin D’ showed greater (mean ± SD) total duration of fixations compared to ‘enriched with vitamin D’ for pork sausages, (1185.6 ± 1098.2 vs 677.0 ± 685.9, p < 0.05). There was no difference in gaze fixation parameters between nutrition claims for chicken goujons. Consumer attention also indicated that health claims, animal welfare and price may influence consumer purchasing decisions of vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products. Study 2 reported that consumers cited a preference for ‘naturally enriched’ opposed to ‘enriched’ nutrition claim. In addition, stronger preferences were apparent for the 'immune function’ health claim compared to 'muscle function'. Furthermore, approximately half of consumers were willing to pay a premium for the products. Overall, consumers had a positive attitude to vitamin D-(bio)enriched meat products, suggesting market potential within the agri-food industry to help address low vitamin D status.