Online grocery shopping was already on the rise before the COVID-19 pandemic, but this trend is even stronger in the third year of the global health crisis. Not only is it convenient to get groceries to the front door, but it’s also safer than going to a grocery store during a pandemic.
But a new study published in Public health nutrition We have found that this convenient shopping option has one major drawback. The vast majority of online grocery stores do not have out-of-the-box nutritional, ingredient, and allergen information on their online list of products. This is a required element of US law to display on the physical packaging of all physical store food. Continue reading to find out more about this issue, and then check out the six things you’ll see at Costco this year.
To better understand what information is displayed on products sold in online grocery stores, researchers at New York University’s Faculty of Global Public Health and Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science Policy have nine researchers. We analyzed 10 major products from major online grocery stores. They focused on bread, cereals and drinks for their research.
On average, nutritional content was only displayed online for 36.5% of the time. Potential allergens were disclosed only in 11.4% of the research products.
Related: Five Myths About Online Grocery Shopping
“The information that traditional grocery stores need to provide to consumers isn’t uniformly provided online. In fact, it’s only displayed in about one-third of the online groceries we surveyed.” , Said Jennifer Pomeranz, assistant lead author of the study. Professor of Public Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Global Public Health, NYU.
This may mean that online grocery shopping can unknowingly lead to unhealthy choices. For example, if you are on a low sodium diet due to blood pressure problems, you may not be able to identify the best item to buy because the nutritional value is not listed.
“The labeling requirements are aimed at protecting consumers who have little protection for themselves,” said Pomeranz. “This is even more pronounced for online sales where consumers can’t inspect their products directly. At the very least, consumers who buy groceries online need to see and read the entire nutrition information panel they need.”
Online grocery shopping was already gaining momentum before the introduction of COVID-19, but researchers now say that up to 22% of all grocery shoppers will switch online by 2025. I’m predicting.
“According to our research, today’s online food shopping environment is a bit of an’archetypal old west’, with incomplete and inconsistent provision of the necessary nutritional information to consumers,” said the lead author of the research. Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean of the Friedman School, said. “Online shopping only continues to grow, which creates a great opportunity for consumers to make a positive impact on making healthy and safe choices. Take advantage of this opportunity to nourish the country. It needs to help us face the associated health crisis. “
For more information, check out the 5 healthiest new Trader Joe’s foods, according to nutritionists.
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