(P05-004-23) Marketing of Animal-Sourced Vs. Plant-Based Foods in Online Grocery Stores: A Comparative Content Analysis of Health and Other Product Claims

Objectives: To assess label information, health claims, and marketing claims across plant-based (PBFs) and animal-sourced food (ASFs) products in popular online grocery stores.

Methods: We gathered data on top-selling ASFs and closely-matched PBFs in 10 food categories from seven leading U.S. online grocery retailers. We assessed mandatory label information and claims related to health, sustainability, sourcing, hedonics, and emotions using package images and content from online listings. Variable and category means were compared using t-tests, and text was characterized using a lemmatized word-based frequency analysis.

Results: In 134 products (n=68 PBFs, n=66 ASFs), PBFs averaged 47 claims and ASFs 28. On-web claims were much more frequent than on-pack (PBFs 34 on-web, 12 on-pack; ASFs 19 on-web, 9 on-pack). On average, PBFs had 12 health claims, 6 sustainability claims, 14 sourcing, and 12 emotional/hedonic; and ASFs had 14 health claims,  < 1 sustainability claims, 2 sourcing, and 10 emotional/hedonic. For ASFs, n=18 products (27%) had allergen ingredients that were not disclaimed, versus PBFs, n=4 (6%). Emphasis of health and sustainability of products, as well as the inclusion of ingredients list, nutrition facts panel, and allergen disclaimers varied considerably by retailer for the same products.

Conclusions: Health claims were similar for PBFs and ASFs, but when disaggregated by setting, most health claims for PBFs were on-web, whereas on-pack claims were predominantly focused on sustainability. By contrast, ASFs made almost no sustainability claims. PBF marketing may be saturated with sustainability claims; marketers may wish to better utilize health-motivated messaging on-pack to promote the adoption of these sustainable products, and to present PBFs as closer substitutes for ASFs in the marketplace.

PBFs had higher compliance to mandatory label information compared to ASFs-- ASFs notably lacked requisite allergen disclosures. However, availability of mandatory food label information varied both across and within stores which could confuse consumers. Online retailers should heed mandatory label requirements, especially for allergens.

Funding Sources: USDA-NIFA National Needs Fellowship (#2020-38420-30724) and the Interdisciplinary Research Innovation Fund (RAFINS) at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University