Quality perception and acceptability of chicken breast meat labeled with sustainability claims vary as a function of consumers' label-understanding level

•Sustainability labels increase quality perception and acceptability of chicken meat.•The label effect is pronounced when consumers are well informed about the label.•The label effect on quality perception and acceptability varies by label-claim type.•Sustainability labels showed little impact on sensory intensity of chicken meat.

Consumers in marketplaces usually view a variety of sustainability-related labels displayed on chicken-meat products. However, it is questionable whether consumers understand such label claims and whether their label-understanding level can be effective with respect to quality perception and sensory aspects of the products. This study aimed to determine whether the impacts of sustainability-related labels on quality perception and acceptability of chicken breast meat differ by consumers' label-understanding level. Among 110 participants who attended a prior educational intervention regarding label claims, the 33 top-scorers of a survey examining knowledge about label claims participated as a “High Label-Understanding (HLU)” group. Thirty-three counterparts who experienced no educational intervention regarding label claims participated as a “Control (CNTL)” group; both groups were matched in terms of demographic profiles and purchase frequency of chicken-meat products. Participants in both groups evaluated the same four chicken-meat samples labeled with four different label-claims, i.e., “USDA Organic”, “No Hormones Added”, “USDA Process Verified”, and a no-label condition. For the HLU group, perceptions of chicken meat with respect to overall quality, trust in quality, freshness, overall liking, and juiciness differed significantly among the four label-claim conditions. However, no significant differences in this regard were observed in the CNTL group. The label claims-induced intensities of tenderness, juiciness, and chicken flavor of chicken-meat samples did not differ between the two groups. In conclusion, the findings demonstrated that the effects of sustainability-related label claims on quality perception and acceptability of chicken meat became significantly more pronounced when consumers understood and trusted the label claims.