Relevance of Typographic Factors in the Identification of Allergens in Food Labels

EU regulation No. 1169/2011 decrees clearer rules for the mandatory declaration of the 14 most common food allergens in all food products packages. Despite this, consumers with food allergies continue to struggle with interpreting the relevant messages for the safe selection of food for consumption. This article seeks to understand the current state of the label reading process by allergic consumers by developing and applying a visual analysis tool to a sample of food packaging available in a large retail store in Portugal. According to the available existing theoretical corpus regarding the role of labelling in the food decision-making process, this study stood to identify the most relevant visual markers for locating and reading the information on food allergens. The results show that improving readability factors of mandatory information contents and reducing formal ambiguity can contribute to making labels easier to read, taking less cognitive effort, and improving food choices.