Monitoring the healthiness of food environments in supermarkets and out-of-home settings

Abstract Background Food environment transformations are needed to improve population diets. Systems to monitor food environment transformations are often lacking, but can be useful to assess retail and food-service performances over time. Therefore, we aimed to measure the healthiness of supermarkets and out-of-home settings, including the assortment, price promotions, in-store promotions, and food marketing to children. Methods Web-scraping techniques were used to collect data on food assortment (n = 37761 products) for 6 supermarket chains (market value=72%). All products were categorized by food group and whether they contributed to a healthy diet (yes/no). During 8 weeks, price-promotions were collected for 8 supermarket chains (n = 23239 promotions). To identify instore promotions (n = 7757 products) and food marketing to children (14 product categories, n = 2,681 products), 40 supermarkets (8 chains) were visited. Similar data was gathered for out-of-home settings. Results 80% of the food assortment and 80% of the products featuring in supermarkets’ price- and in-store promotions were not supportive of a healthy diet. In addition, 73% of the check-outs offered snacks, but lacked healthy options. 97% of the food marketing to children was for products not supporting healthy diets. The top five most available food products in supermarkets were: non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol, sweets, biscuits, meat, and poultry (36% of the entire assortment). Non-alcoholic drinks, sweets and confections, alcoholic beverages, dairy, and ready-to-eat meals were the most featured products in price-promotions. Even less supportive observations were found for out-of-home settings. Conclusions Dutch food environments primarily consist of products and promotions that do not contribute to a healthy diet. Regular monitoring is needed to identify whether policies are effective to improve food environments. Key messages • The current food assortment, price promotions, in-store promotions, and food marketing to children of supermarkets and out-of-home settings are not supportive of healthy food choices. • Monitoring food environments can be useful to assess retail and food-service performances over time, and to identify whether policies are effective to improve food environments.