Stew on this — a new analysis of 10 grocery websites found that retailers provided nutrition facts and other pertinent information online only 35% of the time.
“The government has clearly intended that you should be able to know certain things about your food,” said senior study author and Tufts University professor Sean Cash. “The way we’ve regulated that in the United States is to put that information on the packaging. But that hasn’t carried over to online spaces very well.”
Online grocery shopping has grown in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty percent of Americans buy groceries online, while over 80% have done so at some point in the past three years, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
The US Food and Drug Administration requires packaged foods to display a comprehensive label, whether the item is sold online or in stores, but online grocery retailers aren’t required to share that information on their websites.
Cash’s team, which includes researchers from the NYU School of Global Public Health and the Food is Medicine Institute, examined the product details posted by Amazon, FreshDirect, Hy-Vee, Safeway, ShopRite (via Instacart), Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Stop & Shop and Walmart.
Sixty goods, such as Oreo Double Stuf Cookies, Kraft Singles American Cheese Slices, Breyers Classics Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, Eggland’s Best Large White Eggs and Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Original Pork Sausage Links, were included in the sample.
The study authors report that several online retailers failed to provide nutrition facts, ingredient lists and allergen information for these items — but marketing claims about the products were prominent.
“It’s far easier to find marketing that’s trying to sell you the food rather than the information that our society agrees should be there to tell you about your food,” Cash said.
The findings were published Thursday in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
The researchers are hopeful the FDA will take regulatory action. The agency issued a Request For Information last year to learn more about the content, format and accuracy of food labeling information provided through online grocery shopping platforms.
Cash said Congress could pass new laws to compel retailers to make food labeling accessible online and/or the government could develop a public database of nutrition, ingredient and allergen information of packaged foods.
In the meantime, Cash’s team recommends shoppers visit the food manufacturer’s website, where nutrition information and ingredient lists are much more likely to be found.
“Putting the burden on consumers is not what we should be doing,” Cash lamented.