In order to refine their selection on store shelves or in market stalls, workers have learned to decode tags. A large number of them rely on labels, which bring with them a measure of guarantee. Just what is guaranteed changes from country to country! In Spain and Italy, for instance, labels indicate a product that will be good for my health (for over 60% of workers). This is true for half of the people in this five-country survey (39% in the United Kingdom).
In France, the various labels vying for the consumer's attention are used first and foremost to ensure that the product contributes to the economy of the region or country, for half of the respondents: think of it as food patriotism, a national cooking preference if you will. In other countries, this criterion is less decisive (37% on average), falling to 31% in Italy despite rich and storied local culinary identities.
In the UK and the United States, labels are perceived as quality certificates for products by half of the workers, especially when it comes to taste. It is decidedly less so in Spain (31%), whereas France and Italy skew close to the average with roughly four in ten workers convinced of a labelled product’s quality when time comes to face the cashier.
