Abstract
ABSTRACTBackgroundWhile public health experts have identified food environments as a driver of poor diet, they also hold great potential to reduce obesity, non-communicable diseases, and their inequalities. Supermarkets are the dominant retail food environment in many developed countries including Australia. The contribution of supermarket own brands to the healthfulness of retail food environments has not yet been explored. The aim of this protocol is to describe the methods developed to examine the availability, nutritional quality, price, placement and promotion of supermarket own brand foods within Australian supermarkets.MethodsPhotographic audits of all supermarket own brand foods present in three major food retail outlets were conducted. Two researchers conducted the supermarket audits in Perth, Western Australia in February 2017. Photographs showing the location of the in-store product display, location of products on shelves, use of display materials, and front-of-pack and shelf-edge labels were taken for each supermarket own brand food present. An electronic filing system was established for photographs from each of the supermarkets and an Excel database constructed. The following data were extracted from the photographs: front-of-pack product information (e.g. product and brand name, pack weight); packaging and label design attributes (e.g. country of origin; marketing techniques conveying value for money and convenience); shelf-edge label price and promotion information; placement and prominence of each product; and nutrition and health information (including supplementary nutrition information, nutrition and health claims, and marketing statements and claims). Nutritional quality of each product was assessed using the principles of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, the NOVA classification of level of food processing, and the Health Star Rating score displayed on the front-of-pack.DiscussionApproximately 20,000 photographic images were collected for 3940 supermarket own brand foods present in this audit: 1812 in the Woolworths store, 1731 in the Coles store, and 397 in the IGA store. Analysis of findings will enable researchers to identify opportunities for interventions to improve the contribution of supermarket own brands to healthful retail food environments. This protocol is unique as it aims to investigate all aspects of retail food environments and address the contribution of supermarket own brands.
Highlights
While public health experts have identified food environments as a driver of poor diet, they hold great potential to reduce obesity, non-communicable diseases, and their inequalities
The protocol of this study could be adapted for other countries with high proportions of supermarket own brand products (e.g. Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland [19]) with results used in a similar way
Future within-store audits of supermarket own brand foods could include the branded equivalents to enable analysis of the similarities and differences in the marketing techniques employed. This protocol describes the methods developed to examine the availability, nutritional quality, price, placement and promotion of supermarket own brand foods within Australian supermarkets. This is important because Australian supermarkets hold a powerful position as primary gatekeepers of the food system, and consumers rely on their voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to support public health
Summary
While public health experts have identified food environments as a driver of poor diet, they hold great potential to reduce obesity, non-communicable diseases, and their inequalities. The contribution of supermarket own brands to the healthfulness of retail food environments has not yet been explored The aim of this protocol is to describe the methods developed to examine the availability, nutritional quality, price, placement and promotion of supermarket own brand foods within Australian supermarkets. In Australia, supermarkets are the dominant retail food environment (63% of total food expenditure in 2012-13) [8], and the sector is highly concentrated with the two largest chains accounting for 70% of grocery sales [9]. Australian supermarkets hold a powerful position as primary gatekeepers of the food system [12] They impact public health nutrition by influencing availability, affordability, accessibility, and sustainability of healthy foods [12]. Australian research identified less than half of the packaged foods commonly available in supermarkets were healthy [14]
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