A new study reveals an information gap in online grocery shopping: Crucial nutrition and allergen details—required on food packaging in stores—are often missing on grocery websites. Consumers have long relied on food packaging in brick-and-mortar stores for key nutrition labeling. However, research from Tufts University and New York University (NYU) reveals that as more Americans turn to online grocery shopping, this level of transparency is increasingly absent.
“When you or I walk into a grocery store, we can reasonably expect to find certain information on most food packaging. That’s not always the case when shopping online,” Sean Cash, Bergstrom Foundation professor in global nutrition at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, told The Epoch Times. “For someone with a severe food allergy, there’s a risk of acute harm—even death—if this information isn’t accessible,” Cash told The Epoch Times.
Beyond allergens, the lack of details on nutrition also undermines efforts to promote healthier choices, particularly for people managing chronic conditions like hypertension, he said. The Epoch Times reached out to these stores for comments. While the study found FDA-required information often missing or difficult to access, marketing claims were much more prevalent.
Of the 60 products analyzed, 83.7 percent featured voluntary claims such as “contains real milk” or “no artificial colors,” despite these labels not being lega.