JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

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 out of 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:

Objective:

To describe the development and early assessment of a smart phone application (app) that allows personalised accurate food-based information provision while considering individual characteristics (allergies, diet type and preferences), to enable informed consumer choice when eating out.

Methods:

Methods:

Requirements for the app were first elicited through consideration of current legislative and scientific literature, refined and validated through consultation with potential end-users, and prioritised by potential stakeholders using the MoSCoW method. An app was then designed and developed to address these requirements using an agile approach. The developed app was finally evaluated at eight public engagement events using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and qualitative feedback.

Results:

Results:

Consideration of the literature and consultation with consumers revealed a need for information provision for consumers in the eating out situation, plus 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 personalise 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:

Conclusions:

This work details the successful development and early assessment of a novel smart phone app designed to provide food-based information in an eating out situation, in a personalised manner.