Labels on Plant-Based Milk Alternatives: What’s On and In the Packaging?

An Agroscope study gives an overview of front-of-pack labels on the packaging of 66 plant-based milk alternatives (hereafter referred to as milk alternatives) available in Swiss supermarkets. It also examines whether the information on the labels accurately reflects product properties.

Labels are tags on product packaging serving as a useful tool providing easily understandable product information to consumers. This can help consumers make healthier, more sustainable product-purchasing decisions. To check the extent to which the information on the labels accurately reflects the nutrition information and price on the packaging, Agroscope researchers conducted a comprehensive online market analysis of milk alternatives. The data was gathered from three Swiss supermarkets.

From A for allergen-free to Z for zero sugar

The study considered the properties of eight types of labels: Nutrition (e.g. no added sugar), Diet (e.g. vegan), Absence of Allergens (e.g. dairy-free), Origin (e.g. oats from Switzerland), Product Property (e.g. foamable), Price (e.g. low price), Environmental (e.g. organic) and Social Sustainability (e.g. fairtrade). Product nutritional and price information was also gathered in addition to the label information. The Nutri-Score was calculated for all products, after which the data were interpreted with correlation analyses.

Number and type of labels

The majority of the products examined had three or six labels on the front of the packaging, with a minimum of one and a maximum of nine labels. Furthermore, eleven products had several labels with identical information. Nutrition labels (34%), dietary labels (29%) and ‘absence of allergens’ labels (18%) were most frequently found on the packaging. Labels concerning ecological sustainability (11%), origin (4%), product properties (2%), price (1%) and social sustainability (1%) were less common. As can be seen from the figure, the following labels were particularly common: ‘vegan’ (21%), ‘no milk, lactose-free, dairy-free’ (13%), ‘kcal, kJ per 10ml / portion’ (10%), ’organic’ (10%), and ‘no added sugar’ (10%).

A ‘Nutri-Score’ label was primarily found on oat-milk alternatives, whilst it was missing from rice, soy, pea, almond and coconut products. Nevertheless, we noted that rice-based milk alternatives on the whole had a higher calculated Nutri-Score compared to other products on the market while at the same time having the highest average sugar content (4.9g sugar ± 2.2g per 100ml).

Accuracy of the labels with product nutrition and price information

The correlation analyses show that the labels ‘high protein’, ‘unsweetened’, ‘low fat’ and ‘low price’ match the respective nutrition information and price. Milk alternatives with the label ‘no added sugar’ did not correlate with a lower sugar content, however. Products with and without a ‘no added sugar’ label have a similar average sugar content. This is due to the fact that products with the label ‘no added sugar’ have a high natural-sugar content. Although this label does not advertise a lower sugar content, the ‘no added sugar’ label might suggest a lower sugar content to consumers. The Nutri-Score label was less commonly displayed on products reporting a lower nutritional quality.