Evaluation of Customers’ Perspectives on the Heartbeat Award Scheme in Public Eating Places

• Published in: Journal of nutrition education 1997-09, Vol.29 (5), p.231-236
• Main Authors: Holdsworth, Michelle, Haslam, Cheryl, Raymond, Neil T., Leibovici, Didier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Awards; Awards & honors; awareness; Community Relations; Consumer attitudes; Dietetics; Dining Facilities; disease prevention; Food; health awards; Health Education; health policy; Health Promotion; heart diseases; Hygiene; menu planning; Nutrition; nutrition education; nutrition labeling; Questionnaires; Researchers; restaurant awards; restaurants
• ISSN: 0022-3182; 1499-4046; 1708-8259
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-3182(97)70211-5

The Heartbeat Award (HBA) scheme was launched in England in 1990 by the Health Education Authority (HE A). The HBA is given to a catering establishment if there are “healthy” food choices available, a nonsmoking area, and good standards of food hygiene. This paper describes an evaluation of the customers’ perspectives of the HBA scheme in 11 public eating places. A total of 271 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Just over half of the customers (n = 144; 53%) did not know that the establishment had received the HBA. Even more respondents (n = 183; 67.5%) were unaware of the three main criteria of the award and 224 (82.7%) were unaware that menus had been assessed by a dietitian. Fourteen percent (n = 39) of the sample incorrectly believed that the HBA implied that all food choices were healthy choices.Women and those aged ≥45 years had greater awareness of the HBA scheme. Most customers who knew about the scheme did not choose the establishment because it had a HBA (n = 117; 92.3%). Customers want healthy food choices to be available but this does not influence their choice of establishment. There is a need for greater promotion of the scheme on national and local levels to raise awareness.