TY - JOUR

T1 - A mobile phone app for the provision of personalized food-based information in an eating-out situation

T2 - development and initial evaluation

AU - Appleton, Katherine Marie

AU - Bray, Jeff

AU - Price, Sarah

AU - Liebchen, Gernot

AU - Jiang, Nan

AU - Mavridis, Ioannis

AU - Saulais, Laure

AU - Giboreau, Agnès

AU - Perez-Cueto, Federico J. A.

AU - Coolen, Rebecca

AU - Ronge, Manfred

AU - Hartwell, Heather

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Background: Increasing pressure from governments, public health bodies, and consumers is driving a need for increased food-based information provision in eating-out situations. Meals eaten outside the home are known to be less healthy than meals eaten at home, and consumers can complain of poor information on the health impact and allergen content of meals eaten out. Objective: This paper aimed to describe the development and early assessment of a mobile phone app that allows the provision of accurate personalized food-based information while considering individual characteristics (allergies, diet type, and preferences) to enable informed consumer choice when eating out. Methods: An app was designed and developed to address these requirements using an agile approach. The developed app was then evaluated at 8 public engagement events using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and qualitative feedback. Results: Consideration of the literature and consultation with consumers revealed a need for information provision for consumers in the eating-out situation, including the ability to limit the information provided to that which was personally relevant or interesting. The app was designed to provide information to consumers on the dishes available in a workplace canteen and to allow consumers the freedom to personalize the app and choose the information that they received. Evaluation using the SUS questionnaire revealed positive responses to the app from a range of potential users, and qualitative comments demonstrated broad interest in its use. Conclusions: This paper details the successful development and early assessment of a novel mobile phone app designed to provide food-based information in an eating-out situation in a personalized manner.

AB - Background: Increasing pressure from governments, public health bodies, and consumers is driving a need for increased food-based information provision in eating-out situations. Meals eaten outside the home are known to be less healthy than meals eaten at home, and consumers can complain of poor information on the health impact and allergen content of meals eaten out. Objective: This paper aimed to describe the development and early assessment of a mobile phone app that allows the provision of accurate personalized food-based information while considering individual characteristics (allergies, diet type, and preferences) to enable informed consumer choice when eating out. Methods: An app was designed and developed to address these requirements using an agile approach. The developed app was then evaluated at 8 public engagement events using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and qualitative feedback. Results: Consideration of the literature and consultation with consumers revealed a need for information provision for consumers in the eating-out situation, including the ability to limit the information provided to that which was personally relevant or interesting. The app was designed to provide information to consumers on the dishes available in a workplace canteen and to allow consumers the freedom to personalize the app and choose the information that they received. Evaluation using the SUS questionnaire revealed positive responses to the app from a range of potential users, and qualitative comments demonstrated broad interest in its use. Conclusions: This paper details the successful development and early assessment of a novel mobile phone app designed to provide food-based information in an eating-out situation in a personalized manner.

KW - Diet

KW - Eating

KW - Eating behavior

KW - Food

U2 - 10.2196/12966

DO - 10.2196/12966

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31682575

AN - SCOPUS:85076121650

VL - 3

JO - JMIR Formative Research

JF - JMIR Formative Research

SN - 2561-326X

IS - 4

M1 - e12966

ER -