New professor brings seasoned expertise in consumer food behavior research

Ellen Van Loo, an expert in the field of consumer food behavior, has joined Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics as an associate professor. Her work examines how policy, marketing and retail contexts influence consumer decision-making processes for food, using methodologies from behavioral and experimental economics.

Dr. Ellen Van Loo’s global perspective and interdisciplinary expertise align with Purdue’s mission to advance impactful research while making meaningful change. Her innovative approach to understanding consumer behavior, particularly in the evolving digital marketplace, will enhance the college’s efforts to improve the decision-making experience.” -Bernie Engel, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture

Van Loo joins Purdue through the talent-based Moveable Dream Hires program, which is designed to attract high-performing, top-caliber faculty to the university to further strengthen research and innovation across disciplines.

"As both a sought-after collaborator and a dedicated mentor to graduate students and early-career researchers, she exemplifies the kind of innovative, high-impact scholar the Moveable Dream Hires program was designed to attract.” -Widmar

A taste for global research

Originally from Belgium, Van Loo began her studies at Ghent University, where she earned a master’s degree in bioscience engineering and focused on food engineering, food production and food safety. During her time there, she participated in a study abroad program at the University of Arkansas, which sparked her interest in international research and collaboration.

Inspired by that experience, she applied for and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship, allowing her to return to the University of Arkansas to pursue a second master’s degree in food science. After completing her degree, she remained in the department as a visiting scholar.

Enjoying the academic environment and freedom it offered to explore research topics, Van Loo decided to pursue a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Ghent University. As part of her doctoral studies, she spent time as a visiting research scholar at Korea University in Seoul.

“At the start of my Ph.D., I was very interested in how we can inform consumers and how providing information through package design and labeling can guide them to make better, healthier and more sustainable choices,” recalled Van Loo.

During this time, her work primarily focused on how consumers make decisions in physical retail environments, such as brick-and-mortar grocery stores. She explored how factors like labeling and other product information influenced choice as well as consumer acceptance of novel food products. Van Loo also incorporated biometric data, such as eye-tracking data in consumer studies, to better understand human decision making.

 After earning her Ph.D., she completed scholar appointments at the University of California, Davis, and Arizona State University. In 2019, she joined Wageningen University in the Netherlands as an assistant professor in marketing and consumer behavior group. By 2023, she had been promoted to associate professor.

Feeding curiosity beyond the label

While food labeling and informed food choice has long been a central theme in Van Loo’s work, her recent work has shifted toward developing actional interventions, particularly in digital spaces like online grocery platforms and meal delivery services, to drive meaningful behavioral changes.

"The more I’m understanding these choices, the more I realize that simply informing isn’t enough because we know that information alone isn’t a major driver of consumer behavior change. For behavioral changes, we need to not only provide consumers with the knowledge but also help them adopt an actionable mindset—one where they’re actually wanting to make diet changes.” -Van Loo

While subtle nudges, as well as packaging cues, can be effective in the short-term, Van Loo emphasizes the need for long-term strategies that combine information with targeted actionable interventions. She refers to this as an information plus intervention approach. Additionally, as online food ordering continues to grow, Van Loo stresses the need for a deeper understanding of how to effectively guide and influence consumers choices in these environments. Food policies and marketing strategies aimed at increasing healthy and sustainable food consumption in conventional food environments cannot be perfectly translated in digital space.

“Perhaps even more importantly, these digital environments offer novel ways to intervene during consumer decision-making. These interventions may include digital tools that offer personalized guidance, such as creating offering food suggestions based on individual dietary preferences and constraints,” said Van Loo. “Some personalized advice can help consumers make those healthier choices. This includes both the personalization of products presented as well as personalization of other aspects in the choice architecture such as the lay-out or highlighted product features."

 One area of her research involves food swap interventions. When a consumer selects a less healthy item online, the e-commerce platform suggests a similar but healthier alternative, such as lower-sodium options. Her studies show that consumers are often willing to accept these swaps, especially when a justification is given or when a personalized approach is used.

While transparency and nutrition labels are still important, I’m also studying how interventions, such as food swaps, can lead to impactful changes. By disrupting the decision-making process, we can disturb the automatic purchasing behavior.” -Van Loo

By investigating the opportunities of digital technologies to assist and enable consumers in making better food choices, her work contributes to increasing the knowledge on how to transition towards a healthier and more sustainable world.

Stirring new ideas at Purdue