Nutrition labelling: a review of research on consumer and industry response in the global South

Figures & data

Fig. 1 Food labelling regulations in the global South by region.

Table 1 Overview of articles included in the search review

Response type	No. of studies (total: 34^a)	Global South study setting (study number in parentheses)	Search terms
Consumer	27	Botswana (1), Chile (2), Ghana (2), India (3), Mexico (1), Lesotho (1), Malawi (1), Mauritius (1), Nigeria (1), Pakistan (1), Singapore (2), South Africa (6), South Korea (1), Sri Lanka (1), Trinidad (1), the United Arab Emirates (2)	Consumer knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, effectiveness, impact, usage in the general population and search term Sets 1–3
Consumer models	2	Middle- and low-income countries: Brazil (1), China (2), India (1), Israel (1), Mexico (1), Russia (1), South Africa (2)
Industry	7	Brazil (1), Chile, Mexico (1), Morocco and Tunisia (1), Singapore (1), South Africa (1), Thailand (1)	Food industry, beverage industry, business, self-regulation, voluntary regulation, harmonisation, reformulation, lobby, ‘Big Food’ and search term Sets 1–3

Set 1–3 search terms: 1: food, nutrition, nutritional, back of pack, front of pack; 2: Label, labelling, information, health logo, or health symbol; 3: Regions and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Oceania.

^aTwo studies investigate consumer and industry response to labelling, Singapore (1) and Chile (1).

Table 2 Overview of labelling regulations (back of package) in countries with identified research

Back of package label regulations
Mandatory	Voluntary	No information found
Brazil Chile India Thailand The United Arab Emirates	Mexico Mauritius Morocco Nigeria South Africa (mandatory BOP regulations recently introduced) South Korea Singapore Tunisia	Botswana Ghana Lesotho Malawi Pakistan Sri Lanka Trinidad

Table 3 Overview of labelling regulations (front of package) in countries with identified research

Front of package label regulations
Mandatory	Voluntary	Pending
Chile: Hexagon warning label on certain products Thailand: Mandatory GDA labelling on snack products; the text ‘eat less, exercise more’ on certain children's snack products	South Korea: Traffic light labelling on children's food products Singapore: Healthier Choice logo	South Africa (voluntary FOP traffic light labels)