Abstract
BackgroundVending machines and shops located within health care facilities are a source of food and drinks for staff, visitors and outpatients and they have the potential to promote healthy food and drink choices. This paper describes perceptions of parents and managers of health-service located food outlets towards the availability and labelling of healthier food options and the food and drinks offered for sale in health care facilities in Australia. It also describes the impact of an intervention to improve availability and labelling of healthier foods and drinks for sale.MethodsParents (n = 168) and food outlet managers (n = 17) were surveyed. Food and drinks for sale in health-service operated food outlets (n = 5) and vending machines (n = 90) in health care facilities in the Hunter New England region of NSW were audited pre (2007) and post (2010/11) the introduction of policy and associated support to increase the availability of healthier choices. A traffic light system was used to classify foods from least (red) to most healthy choices (green).ResultsAlmost all (95%) parents and most (65%) food outlet managers thought food outlets on health service sites should have signs clearly showing healthy choices. Parents (90%) also thought all food outlets on health service sites should provide mostly healthy items compared to 47% of managers. The proportion of healthier beverage slots in vending machines increased from 29% to 51% at follow-up and the proportion of machines that labelled healthier drinks increased from 0 to 26%. No outlets labelled healthier items at baseline compared to 4 out of 5 after the intervention. No changes were observed in the availability or labelling of healthier food in vending machines or the availability of healthier food or drinks in food outlets.ConclusionsBaseline availability and labelling of healthier food and beverage choices for sale in health care facilities was poor in spite of the support of parents and outlet managers for such initiatives. The intervention encouraged improvements in the availability and labelling of healthier drinks but not foods in vending machines.
Highlights
Vending machines and shops located within health care facilities are a source of food and drinks for staff, visitors and outpatients and they have the potential to promote healthy food and drink choices
Health professionals routinely provide advice to clients on healthy eating and it is important that this advice is not undermined by lack of healthy food and drink items offered for sale in the health service environment
The aims of this paper are to (1) report the perceptions of parents and managers of health-service located food outlets towards the availability and labelling of healthier food and drink options; (2) describe food and drinks available for sale from vending machines and food outlets in the Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) and (3); describe the impact of a policy-support intervention designed to increase the availability of healthier food and drink options and ensure they are labelled as such
Summary
Vending machines and shops located within health care facilities are a source of food and drinks for staff, visitors and outpatients and they have the potential to promote healthy food and drink choices. This paper describes perceptions of parents and managers of health-service located food outlets towards the availability and labelling of healthier food options and the food and drinks offered for sale in health care facilities in Australia. It describes the impact of an intervention to improve availability and labelling of healthier foods and drinks for sale. A recent intervention in two New Zealand hospitals found that the introduction of nutrition criteria for vending machines did not affect sales volumes, led to increased staff satisfaction with vending products and, importantly, resulted in a substantial reduction in the amount of energy (-24%), total fat (-32%), saturated fat (-41%), and total sugars (-30%) per 100 g of product sold [5]
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