Food label design - exploring the literature

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the main research fields concerning food label designs and build a topic overview. To this end, the literature review method was chosen. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 121 papers was identified and analyzed using bibliometric analysis. Journals, articles, authors of the sample and the term co-occurrence map, which represents the recurring themes and organizes them in clusters, were defined. To recognize the main research fields, starting from analyzing the terms that compose each cluster, the results were discussed in a focus group composed of five experts. Findings Food labelling theories are distinctly related to eight research fields: consumer behaviour analysis, consumer willingness evaluation, consumer product evaluation, nutrition and health, daily foodstuff and meal effects, food industry and related products, impacts on market and society and child nutrition. Research limitations/implications - Several stakeholders could be interested in the results of this paper. Food companies could identify the best practices in food labelling theories to improve their products and labels. Governments could understand how social policies are acknowledged by consumers and how to create new policies. Researchers could identify new issues to investigate. The results could also facilitate bibliographical referencing for those who approach this topic for the first time. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, studies on food label theories explore the themes from the consumer's perspective. The authors' study, in contrast, focused on recognizing the research fields where food label designs are addressed.