Consumerism, Packaging, And Labeling

344

CONSUMERISM, PACKAGING AND LABELING

EILEEN F. TAYLOR U .S . Department of Agriculture

Consumer in t e re s t i n food labeling may not seem t o be a paramount issue a t the moment because concern about costs crowds out other considerations. But concern about costs involves concern about value, and information t o assist i n making wise buying decisions has taken on even more importance i n the eyes of many shoppers.

Actions i n the last few months by FDA and USDA and some private organizations underscore the continuing i n t e r e s t i n responding t o consumer's requests f o r useful information. Members of Congress have continued t o demonstrate t h e i r i n t e re s t and t h e i r consti tuents ' by the numerous labeling proposals introduced. Recent leg is la t ive act ion i n Massachusetts would seem t o confirm t h a t consumer information issues a r e a l ive and well .

We a t USDA's Economic Research Service have an in t e re s t i n food labeling problems from the standpoint of the consumer and the food marketer. Our research on date labeling has been focused on three aspects: Consumer's understanding and use of open dates, the costs involved f o r a r e t a i l chain which voluntar i ly in s t i t u t ed an open dating program, and the extent of voluntary open dating programs among food processors and r e t a i l e r s . published and sane of you may have seen summaries of the findings. t h i r d project is now i n progress.

The result of the f i r s t two surveys have been The

The concept of date labeling of foods f i r s t began t o get widespread a t ten t ion i n 1969-70. research information on "the need f o r and economic f e a s i b i l i t y of" date labeling of foods. such data in hand, but we s t a r t ed looking t o see what other groups had done and whr i t rescarch might be needed.

I n July 1970, the USDA w a s o f f i c i a l l y asked f o r

When the request was made we found that we had no

The Rutgers Food S t a b i l i t y Survey w a s cmpleted shor t ly before we began t o look at food dating. I n t h a t study, a tremendous amount of information was compiled on food qual i ty and t h e factors t h a t a f f ec t qual i ty changes. and gives specif ic data f o r 18 product categories, and s t resses t h a t temperature i s a far more important qual i ty determinant than simply elapsed time.

Their report presents extensive findings and recommendations

* Presented a t the 26th Annual Reciprocal Meat Conference of the American Meat Science Association, 1973.

345

Supporters of food dating generally recognize the importance of temperature--they know that a product w i l l lose qua l i ty i f it is mishandled. But they advocate the date as a guide t o qual i ty . i n our research we decided t o t a l k t o shoppers i n chainstores where a n open dating program had been operating f o r several months. a t t h a t time a majority of the women interviewed did not understand the open dates on foods although they reported both awareness and use of the date information.

So, as the first s tep

We found that

These findings a re based on interviews with about 1,700 women a t 18 s tores i n d i f fe ren t incme neighborhoods i n Chicago. A t the time of the study the cooperating chain had pull dates on about 150 private l a b e l products and a code book w a s a l so available f o r shopper's in-store use. I ' d like t o spend just a minute on the highl ights .

S l igh t ly more than half the shoppers said they were aware of the program, and nearly two-thirds of the 429 interviewed i n depth reported they had used the dates a t l e a s t once. mentioned, followed by refr igerated dough products, other dairy products, and eggs.

Bread and m i l k were most frequently

Ho;r shoppers interpreted the dates varied widely. A l l dates on the 150 items r e fe r t o the las t day the product can be sold (pull date) , h u t only 20 percent of the shoppers interviewed in depth correctly interpreted the date as when the product m u s t be removed from sa le . The most frequent answer given was t h a t t he date t e l l s about the freshness of the item. About 45 percent ident i f ied open dating as representing a past date--for example, date of packaging or delivery--instead of a future date--the last permissible day of s a l e . Almost ha l f gave no appropriate answers.

The Chicago study provided us with information about how customers were reacting several months a f t e r date labeling was i n i t i a t e d . But w e s t i l l did not how what t he impact of introduction might be on shoppers or on s to re operations.

O u r second research project was a jo in t endeavor with the Consumer Research I n s t i t u t e and it involved two phases :

(1) a nat ional telephone survey t o determine the nature and extent of consumer concern about food freshness,

( 2 ) an in-s tore experiment t o t e s t the e f f ec t of introducing p u l l or pack dates on food items.

The Consumer Research I n s t i t u t e handled the consumer interview phases of the project and we i n ERS looked a t the economic impact on the s tores when date labeling was introduced. The in-store experiment involved about 600 items i n the categories most often mentioned as unsatisfactory by

1/ A Case Study of Food Dating i n Selected Chicago Supermarkets. MRR 943, U .S . Department of Agriculture, November 1971.

346

respondents in the telephone s u r v e y . Pack dates were used on the items i n 3 s tores of a chain i n Middletown, Ohio; pull dates were used on the same items i n the chain's s tores in nearby Hamilton. Cincinnati stressed be t t e r in-store handling t o see i f that could a f f ec t shoppers' sa t i s fac t ion with the food purchased.

Two other s tores i n

The f u l l report of t h i s study is available t o you, so I'll j u s t give you the highlights of what we found with the telephone survey and the experimental program. I n June 1971, 1,500 shoppers were interviewed i n a telephone survey and they were asked i f they had bought any food i n the previous two weeks t h a t spoiled or became s t a l e before they thought it should have.

Eighteen percent repl ied "yes" t o t h i s question. We recognize t h a t t h i s response is based on a purely subjective evaluation by the consumer-- but frm the consumer's viewpoint t h a t i s the most s ign i f icant evaluation. Vir tual ly a l l the complaints Fnvolved perishable and semi-perishable products with fresh meats and m i l k at the top of t h e l i s t . indication of consumer's concern about qual i ty and freshness is shown i n the following responses. Twenty-nine percent of those Fnterviewed said t h a t i n the previous two weeks they had thrown food away, other than l e f t - overs, s h p l y because they thought they had it too long.

A good

The 12,975 shoppers who were interviewed during the Ohio in-store experbent were asked about t he freshness of foods purchased before and a f t e r the use of open dates. A l t h o u g h introduction of e i ther pack o r p u l l dates on foods reduced by about ha l f the incidence of consumer's reports of purchasing spoiled or s t a l e foods, reduction i n instances of spoilage w a s reported f o r both open-dated and nonopen-dated food. Thus, some of the improvement may have been due t o a change i n consumer a t t i t u d e toward the s tore management. Because date information w a s available f o r sOme foods, customers may have had more confidence i n the freshness of foods purchased. O r it may have been duL t o generally improved handling i n the s to re .

On the cost s ide, product losses i n the sample s tores generally were lower during the 8-week open-dating t e s t than they had been during the 4-week pre tes t period. packages rehandled, were considerably lower fo r meats and produce. Decline i n product loss occurred not only in s tores where open dates were used but also i n two control s tores where improved handling practices were s t ressed. This would Fndicate that be t t e r a t tent ion t o rotat ion and the recordkeeping made necessary by the experiment in a l l sample s tores has an impact on product losses--but there cer ta in ly was no evidence of increased losses due t o substant ia l sor t ing by customers.

Losses, i n terms of do l la r values and number of

Food Dating: Shoppers Reactions and the Impact on Retail Food Stores . MRR 9%, U.S. Department of Agriculture. January 1973.

347

Sales data fo r the sample stores and others i n the same division of the cooperating chain showed no indication of increased shopper patronage a f t e r the open-dating program was introduced.

With information now in hand about impact on the r e t a i l e r and the shoppers reactions, we f e e l that the answer t o one more significant question is s t i l l needed by policy makers. Briefly s ta ted t h a t question i s "Who is doing what?" and of course, we a lso want t o know '%Jhy?" or "Why not?" To learn about the Who, what, and Why, we have recently sent questionnaires t o about 1,500 food processors and r e t a i l e r s throughout the country. The questions involve:

Whether date labeling f o r consumer use is being done or planned,

Which foods are date labeled,

The type of date,

How it is shown,

Whether it is explained on the packages,

What s t orage instruct ions are given,

Costs of open dating,

Consumer response.

While t h i s t h i rd project i s s t i l l being conducted I have been looking over the questionnaires returned so far and I ' d l i ke t o share a f e w early impressions with you. As you might expect, responses range from staunch support t o staunch nonsupport. f a r has been the number of respondents who have l i s t e d information on specif ic products t ha t , as f a r as we are concerned, is clear ly not open dating fo r consumer use. was given t o us . One, of course, is t h a t the instructions we provided were not c lear . While it is d i f f i c u l t t o prepare instructions s o well t h a t there a re no misinterpretations, I do think that our material was f a i r l y c lear . carefully. But the other r e a l poss ib i l i ty is a lack of understanding or agreement about just what consti tutes "readable dates for consumer use ."

One of the m o s t surprising things thus

There a re two possible reasons why such information

O r perhaps some respondents didn ' t read the instructions

So far we have received responses frm several major meat processors. Interest ingly enough, a l l these respondents provide some type of open date information, usually i n alphanumeric form, and a l l but one uses a qual i ty assurance date .

The opinions among these processors varied a good bit--from enthusiastic t o out-right opposition. About half favor providing date information although there w a s l i t t l e agreement on whether the consumer used or benefited from it. Two of the respondents i n this small group of questionnaires I reviewed were strongly opposed because of the significance of handling fac tors .

3443

AG I mentioned a t t h e outset some in te res t ing things have been happening i n the area of labeling i n the last few months--things l i k e UCDA's recent proposal regarding the use of calendar dates on labels and a Washington I) .C . chain's experimental program on percentage labeling of ingredients i n several foods. FDA's actions on nu t r i t i ona l labeung and the advent of the Universal Product Code a r e a l l contributing t o a "what next?" attitude. is voluntary today may be mandatory on the not-too-distant future .

And it cer ta in ly is reasonable t o recognize that what

I3ut from my p o h t of view, the s ign i f icant things that have been happening with consumerism, packaging and labeling involve the quest fo r usem-usable-information . Date labeling provides a good example. Imprinting June 20 on a package allows the company t o say that date information is being made available. explanation, is of l i t t l e use t o the consumer. l i k e "for maximum enjoyment, we recommend you use t h i s item by.. ." the date becomes a valuable informt ion too l .

But that date alone, without an Accompanied by instruct ions

I ' d like t o spend a moment on consumer's use of information when it Some of the research conducted thus far has indicated that i s provided.

not nearly enough consumers have taken advantage of the information too ls available f o r t h e i r decision making. I think two factors enter in to t h i s apparent lack of full use. whether the information provided i s usable. customers have i n making buying decisions. t o using such fac tors as pr ice per ounce may not take such information in to account. But as the information becomes more usable and as new shoppers enter t he market w i t h un i t prices, freshness dates and nu t r i t i ona l labeling part of the normal shopping experience, I t h i n k we w i l l see increased use of such information too ls .

One has t o do with what I alluded t o ea r l i e r - - The second involves the habits

Shoppers who are not accustomed

N o w back t o the beginning, I believe that consumerism is a l ive and w e l l . And while that arena may seem t o you t o be rather quiet a t the moment, I believe it i s a deceptive quiet i n a sense. Many pressures are still being exerted especially a t t h e s t a t e and loca l levels . th ink there a l so is a " w a i t and see" attitude among those who have been advocates of consumer issues. Stanley Cohen, i n h is column i n the June 4 Advertising Age, made some in te res t ing points along th i s l i n e . discussing a meeting of a group of businessmen concerned about se l f regulation and other affirmative responses, Cohen described the members' reaction as 'Ithe way you react when you sense that a competitor, who has kept you on your toes , is becming l e s s of a threa t ." This s t ruck me as a very in te res t ing thought. Consumerism has served a very useful purpose. Let 's not lose sight of the good things that have been accomplished and become complacent. This is t h e time for decision makers t o respond wisely t o consumer concerns so that t h e same atmosphere that created consumer discontent i n years past w i l l not occur again.

I

I n

WAYNE BUSCH: Thank you, Mrs . Taylor. A question on open dating-- i f a product is needed, say a quart of milk, i s needed f o r a specif ic date, and I the processor, can produce milk t h a t is twice as good, w i l l l a s t twice as long, you discriminate against me, do you not? a date on it?

Can you put

ELIENE TAYIOR: No one has said t h a t t h e dates, w h a t the date is, has already been s e t I believe it has been passed loca l ly . something of t h i s nature. I don't think t h a t is the t rend right now. t r u e discret ion based on your knowledge of your product.

That is en t i r e ly up t o you even i n the regulations. They do require a p u l l date or

There were some connotations i n the past but Set t ing the date would be a

WAYNE BUSCH: Karl, I wonder i f you would care t o comment on t h i s . I see you smiling, do you have a comment?

KARL HOKE: I don't remember what I was smiling about. I r e a l l y wouldn't th ink that code dates r e a l l y discourage qual i ty production. think that many of t h e people i n the meat industry have thought t h a t perhaps the government didn ' t encourage a fixed code date but I don't think t h i s i s t r u e a t a l l .

I

EL1E;NE TAYLOR: A s I mentioned before, some of the older regulations dealing w i t h dairy products specif ied t h a t the length of time a f t e r pasteurization. This i s not the t rouble and in many cases, these things have been dropped. I ' m r e a l l y going t o have t o run. questions I could answer.

Are there any br i e f

HAROLD TUMA: I have one. On open dating of meat, fac tors such as temperature, light and s o for th could e f f ec t the appearance. You could have a date t h a t you would es tab l i sh under normal conditions t h a t should be acceptable but through mishandling through the d is t r ibu t ion system the product can cme out looking very bad and s t i l l get by without the da te . What kind of response o r what kind of solution t o t h i s type of problem do you see?

ELIEXVE TAYLQR: Most consumers a re aware that dates a re guides not They hard and fast and t h a t they recognize the importance of handling.

recognize the importance of temperature and t h e main concern has been that the dates have always been there but they have been coded.

WAYNE BUSCH: Don, did you have a quick questton?

DON KROPF: A point of c la r i f ica t ion , Mrs. Taylor. You mentioned, I think, a Washington, D.C. firm's use of percentage labeling. What products does t h i s cover and how close were the percentages?

ELIENE TAYLOR: I was a f ra id somebody was going t o ask me t h a t . was s i t t i n g there a l i t t l e while ago t ry lng t o remember them. I think m e was beef stew, one maple syrup, but I honestly don't remember t h e others and I don't have the information with me. I believe there were

I

seven products involved i n the t e s t . percentages came out. f o r example with the beef stew, the percentage of meat was already s e t .

And I don't bow how well the I suspect the products involved may be ones where,

WAYNE BUSCH: Questions f o r the rest of the panel?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: To Paul Grindrod on packaging (could not be understood).

PAUL GRINDROD: Let's s tar t with first we look a t the package t h a t we said had t o be opened with a pair of scissors o r knife, you r e c a l l that? And then we looked a t the package that peeled apart. Now the package that peels apart is actual ly cheaper than t h e package t h a t has t o be opened with a knife because of more economical materials being used and produced i n a more economical fashion. Now the package where the wieners were separated and hermetically sealed from one another-- t he only increase i n cost there i s an increase i n the amount of film, t h e square inches of f i lm. hermetically sealed I think there is about 40 or 50$1 more f i l m than in the other package, resealing package, and the cost therefore of the f i l m i s 40 o r 5 6 more. because of the other costs t h a t go i n t o the package besides the film. But i n terms of cents, let 's say i f I could conjure a f igure up f o r you. I th ink it would be i n the v i c i n i t y of a 1/2 cent t o 3/4 of a cent more f o r the separately and hermetically sealed l i n k s . Does that answer your quest ion?

And whether the meats a re separately

The t o t a l cost i s sanewhat l e s s percentage-wise

UNIDENTIFIED: Could you give us an idea of the t o t a l package cost here fo r e i the r 12 ounce or 1 pound packages?

PAUL GRINDROD: Well, of course, i n packaging cas t s there a re so many things tha t go in to a package cos t . on costs but i n addition, I th ink a pack of wieners, it has been some t i m r sirice I ' v e been i n d i r ec t costs, a pound package, I think, r a n ~rour id il couple of cents perhaps. It is really surprising how l i t t l e is spent on meat packages In comparison t o the value of the product which the package protects . 8re spent on the package i n re la t ion t o the product.

I could give you t h e material

I n other products you w i l l f ind many more cents

H A R O D TUMA: I would llke t o ask M r . Young i f you could see any trends in e i the r re ta i l convenience markets toward p a r t i a l l y precooked portion control frozen meat cuts. increase i n the meats i n microwave ovens i n the home.

It might a l so be t i e d i n with an

W I L L I A M R. YOUNG: Well, I personally don't l i k e roasts and the meat 1 get on an a i rplane o r wherever people p a r t i a l l y pre-cook it or do something l i ke t h a t . think t h a t there i s anything you can do ahead of time t o a s teak or a good roasted beef or something l i k e that i n the direct ion of convenience t h a t i s n ' t going t o cut down on f lavor and acceptabi l i ty . O f course, we a r e ra i s ing new generations of people, many of whom, w e l l kids today, I

Except f o r stews and similar products, I don't

think, have never had fresh garden peas. They don't how what they a re l i k e and I th ink that these convenience foods, we older people don't l i ke as well as what we used t o have, a re the only things t h a t children w i l l know and they w i l l grow up t o accept a l o t of things t h a t today I don't think we could ge t across t o the public. your question, a f t e r a l l t h i s was a guessing speech.

I don't know i f t h a t has answered

UNIDENTIFIED: I would l i k e t o know w h a t you think the future would be f o r edible packaging materials taking the place of the packaging materials which a re on t h e market today.

W . R . YOUNG: Well, I had t h e good fortune t o be involved w i t h t ha t f o r qui te some t h e with edible packaging. F i r s t of a l l , i f the package i s edible they have t o keep it clean and i f you have t o keep it clean, you have t o put another package around it so what good i s an edible package? This was a question asked 10 years ago by Charlie Southwick, the Technical Editor of the Modern Packaging. there is sane good t o it. You could take a nice glass j a r f u l l of edible packages of freeze-dried coffee, f o r example. Each one represents a serving a cup and the glass Ja r protects a l l of these packages from moisture and everything e l s e . cup, chances a re moisture w i l l hur t it if it gets wet ahead of time. So I say yes, there is a market fo r edible packages but it won't be a very general thing. Now Fn t he baking industry, edible packages a re being used fo r packaging measured quant i t ies of enzymes, vitamins and other additives t h a t a re used. It i s n ' t widespread ye t but it i s something t h a t i s going very slowly.

What good is an edible package? Well,

If the package i s going t o dissolve i n the

UNIDENTIFIED: On off f lavors i n i r rad ia ted meat, do you have any informt ion t h a t w e might have on a change i n the policy of t h e Food and D r u g Administration on the f lavor problems?

W. R. YOUNG: Walter Urbain has worked on the f lavor problem and he f i n d s tha t i f you i r r ad ia t e without oxygen i n contact with the meat or a non-appreciable amount of it t h a t you do not get the off f lavors t h a t you ge t i f you i r r ad ia t e out i n the open. By putting the meat i n a vacuum package o r i n a tight package, l e t us say, you don't get t h i s off f lavor . So f a r as FDA approval goes, nobody knows what they a re going t o do, but t h e r e ' s been a l o t of animal feeding going on and a l l kinds of t e s t s where nowhere along the l i n e has anybody found anything t o say against i r r ad ia t ion . Now t h i s is , i r r ad ia t ion where you pasteurize the surface of the meat,not s t e r i l i z e it. can f ind anything wrong with it, chances a re they a re going t o give up and say, l e t ' s t ry it.

We f igure that if you go on f o r a number of years and nobody

WAYNE BUSCH: Our t i m e is up and I would l i k e t o thank the speakers f o r t h e i r very excellent presentations. Ken Johnson.

I ' l l t u r n the meeting back t o

H. K. JOHNSON: Thank you, Wayne, fo r helping out . I, too, want t o thank the speakers and w i l l t u r n it back t o John Sink.

352

J. D. S l N K : This is Ken's afternoon. Dave Stroud couldn't be here and s o Ken i s going t o pinch h i t and give us another update on the nat ional meat i d e n t i t y program. O f course, you r ea l i ze that t h e copy of the t a l k and slides a r e s t i l l i n Chicago. And so Ken t h i s morning i n his mstel mom sat down and scratched out a few notes so i t ' s a pleasure a t t h i s time t o hear about t he nat ional meat i d e n t i t y program i n which Ken Johnson has been involved.