The MAHA movement: Early evidence of consumer perceptions of ingredient warning labels

States across the country have begun passing make America healthy again (MAHA) aligned food policies, including some food labeling laws. Texas recently passed a food labeling law, requiring warning labels to be applied to products that utilize one or more of 44 listed ingredients. In this paper, we utilize a survey of 1020 U.S. consumers to evaluate public perceptions of the label, which reads: “WARNING: This product contains an ingredient that is not recommended for human consumption by the appropriate authority in Australia, Canada, the European Union, or the United Kingdom.” specifically, we evaluate consumer perceptions of label credibility, adequacy, and importance in food purchasing decisions. We also gauge perceptions of food safety, assessing whether consumers believe foods with the label will result in health issues and whether consumers believe the locations listed have safer food systems than the United States. We find that most respondents thought the label was credible and likely to influence their grocery decisions, although perceptions differed across consumer segments. Consumers expressed significant safety concerns, with about half of the respondents believing consuming food with the label would result in long-term health problems. As MAHA accelerates state food labeling laws, evaluating public perceptions labels provides useful information to stakeholders across the food system