Assistant Prof Kees, of the Villanova University School of Business in Philadelphia, in the United States, is an Anzmac Visiting International Scholar at the University of Otago marketing department this week.
Anzmac is the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy, a body which shares information and promotes research among marketing academics and practitioners.
Nutritional panels on food packets contained valuable information, but busy shoppers also needed a simplified system of symbols, such as a red or green traffic light, on the front of packages to help them interpret complex nutritional data, he said in an interview.
Many shoppers were confused by some of the current health-related messages on packaging.
"It's confusing at best and deceptive at worst."
One brand of US breakfast cereal was promoted on the front of the package as "high fibre", but also contained an unhealthy 40% sugar.
Experimental research he had undertaken showed advantages in a system adopted in the United Kingdom, and backed by regulations, which provided traffic light-style information on each of four nutrients: fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar.
Green indicates low levels, amber medium and red high levels of each nutrient.
Prof Janet Hoek, of the Otago marketing department, said the issues raised by Prof Kees were timely because Food Standards Australia New Zealand was considering new food-product labelling requirements.
Adopting a traffic-light system would be "extremely useful" for New Zealand consumers, and would also encourage the healthier reformulation of products, she said.
