Assessing public perception and awareness of UK mandatory calorie labelling in the out-of-home sector: using Twitter and Google trends data

Abstract

Objectives: In 2021 the UK government announced a new obesity policy requiring large out-of-home food outlets to provide mandatory in-store calorie labelling on food and drink items. This study aimed to examine public responses and awareness of the policy pre and post-implementation using Twitter comments and Google trends data. Methods: We examined responses to tweets from the UK Department of Health and Social Care detailing the policy and when it would be implemented and a post-implementation tweet stating the enforcement of the policy. The sentiments of the tweets were coded and the number of likes and replies extracted. We utilised google trends to examine public awareness of the policy by extracting weekly relative search volume for relevant phrases such as ‘calorie labelling’. Results: From the 276 replies/quote-tweet extracted, the majority expressed a negative sentiment towards the policy (N=197/ 71.4%). There were fewer tweets expressing a positive sentiment (N=25 / 8.7%) and a neutral/no sentiment (N=54 / 19.6%) towards the policy. There was no difference in the number of ‘likes’ or retweets between tweets expressing positive or negative sentiments. Five themes were identified expressing negative sentiments with the most common being the negative ‘impact on eating disorders’. Google trends data revealed increased searches for 'calorie labels/labelling' during the week of the policy enforcement compared previous weeks in the last 5 years. There was no significant difference in searches for specific menu calorie labelling in the weeks leading up to and post-intervention. Conclusions: This analysis revealed several negative responses and themes and increased awareness of calorie labelling relating to the announcement and implementation of the 2021 mandatory calorie labelling policy in England. A greater understanding of public responses to calorie labelling policies may help tailor future policies and public communication strategies