Publications by authors named "Marco Mazzu"

The incidence of overweight and obesity has generated significant concerns among European consumers and institutions. As part of a set of measures undertaken, the European Union (EU) called for one harmonized mandatory front-of-pack nutritional label (FOPL) to improve consumer food nutritional knowledge and encourage healthier and more informed food choices. Different types of FOPLs, ranging from nutrient-specific labels-such as the NutrInform Battery-to summary labels-such as the Nutri-Score-have been developed and introduced in different markets, reporting different degrees of effectiveness in terms of understanding.

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Objectives: In the current open debate at the European level on what would be the best Front-of-Pack Label (FOPL) to support customers' healthier and more informed food choices, little effort has been dedicated to analyzing the potential effects of bundling existing FOPLs. This study aims to compare the effects of consumers' subjective understanding and liking of different types of FOPL bundles.

Methods: We performed an experimental design by manipulating the FOPLs' scheme, where different types of FOPL bundles were designed according to the "directiveness" of the FOPLs' scheme.

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The last decades have been marked by the introduction of front-of-pack labels (FoPL) as an institutional corrective action against obesity and nutrition-related illnesses. However, FoPL-related policy-making initiatives issued by the European Union evolved over time and led to a diversity of labels with different effects on consumers' decisions. As a result, the extant literature adapted to the regulative scenario over the years and investigated the effects of the labels, creating consensus on some topics while being fragmented on others.

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In the context of the ongoing debate on front-of-pack labels (FOPL), extant research highlights a lack of clear indications on which label is most effective in increasing consumers' knowledge of food nutritional quality, and in favoring informed food choices. In this study, we have compared the effects of two different labels, one nutrient-specific label (i.e.

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In recent years, increasing attention to the utilisation of Front-Of-Pack Labels (FOPLs) as a tool to prompt individuals towards healthier food choices has been observed both in regulatory bodies and academic research. However, few theoretical models have been used to understand their role in consumer decision-making, as well as the antecedents that induce individuals to accept the information provided by the label, and to benchmark FOPL performance in different markets.Through a sequence of two studies conducted in Italy, France and the UK on 2812 primary grocery shoppers, we developed a new theoretical framework, the Front-Of-Pack Acceptance Model, applicable both in contexts in which FOPL are present, and in which they should be introduced.

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Many studies in the related literature have proven that the perception of flavor and healthiness can be affected by both the product's intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Package designs, brands, colors, labels and other visual elements exert and influence consumers' expectations and guide them toward food decisions. With the increasing initiatives promoted within Europe in support of the adoption of blockchain technology in supply chains and agri-food contexts, in the coming years, packages will be used with additional product information certified with the technology itself.

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Different Front-of-Pack (FOP) nutritional labels have been implemented in order to increase consumers' awareness of food nutritional quality and encourage healthier choices. However, few studies have analysed the effects of FOPLs on consumers' subjective understanding and liking across different socio-cultural contexts. This study tests the effect that the new enriched informative label NutrInform Battery and the summary label Nutri-Score have on subjective comprehension and liking across 2776 respondents of seven European countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain).

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Front-of-pack nutritional label (FOPL) systems have been developed worldwide to amplify and simplify nutritional information and induce healthier choices. This study explores consumers' internal reactions - in terms of subjective understanding and liking - to a new FOPL: the NutrInform Battery. The investigation aims to assess the clear comprehension by consumers of the information provided by the NutrInform Battery FOPL scheme, based on a sample of 200 Italian respondents, in a real-life setting, with products representative of the most widely consumed food categories, using a between-subject design.

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The current health-care infrastructure is generally considered to be inadequate to meet the needs of an increasingly older population. We have investigated the feasibility of a passive in-home monitoring system based on wireless accessible sensor populations (WASP). In an EU-funded project we have identified the system architecture and the sensors required to gather data from elderly patients by continuous monitoring.

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