The Determinants of Consumer Choices of Salted Snacks and Prepared Frozen Meals Over Time

We develop and estimate an integrated discrete choice model system of product choice and nutrition information for prepared frozen meals and salted snacks in the United States in the period from 1995 to 1999. The model links consumer observed and latent characteristics (e.g., income, knowledge about nutrition, nutrition label use) to product characteristics (e.g., prices, nutritional attributes) and allows us to obtain consumer preference parameters and demand elasticities with regard to product characteristics. We find that prices, advertising, price reductions, and consumer preferences for taste have a significant effect on the demand for prepared frozen meals and salted snacks, whereas nutrition information and nutrition label use do not. Using the estimated demand parameters we then evaluate the impact of the new mandatory labeling policy. The results show that consumer preferences and purchasing patterns within the prepared frozen meal and the salted snack categories did not change significantly after the implementation of mandatory labeling