Does Caloric Labeling of Prepared Foods Affect Purchasing Decisions?

The Affordable Care Act requires that all U.S. food retailers with ≥20 locations include caloric content on prepared food labels. To see whether such labeling reduced purchased calories, researchers estimated changes in purchased calories for prepared foods (e.g., bakery items, sandwiches, deli cheeses and meats) and potential packaged substitutes that already were labeled and not subject to the change (e.g., packaged cookies, frozen dinners, prepackaged deli meats).

Data from 173 supermarkets were used. Calories purchased before implementation of labeling (Apr 2015–Apr 2017) were compared with calories purchased after implementation (May 2017–Dec 2017). Calorie labeling was associated with significant 10-calorie (5%) and 18-calorie (11%) de…