Food Outlets Research Articles

Changes in the number of new takeaway food outlets associated with adoption of management zones around schools: A natural experimental evaluation in England

By the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) across England had adopted takeaway management zones (or “exclusion zones”) around schools as a means to curb proliferation of new takeaways. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we evaluated the impact of management zones on takeaway retail, including unintended displacement of takeaways to areas immediately beyond management zones, and impacts on chain fast-food outlets. We used uncontrolled interrupted time series analyses to estimate changes from up to six years pre- and post-adoption of takeaway management zones around schools. We evaluated three outcomes: mean number of new takeaways within management zones (and by three identified sub-types: full management, town centre exempt and time management zones); mean number on the periphery of management zones (i.e. within an additional 100 m of the edge of zones); and presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones. For 26 LAs, we observed an overall decrease in the number of new takeaways opening within management zones. Six years post-intervention, we observed 0.83 (95% CI -0.30, −1.03) fewer new outlets opening per LA than would have been expected in absence of the intervention, equivalent to an 81.0% (95% CI -29.1, −100) reduction in the number of new outlets. Cumulatively, 12 (54%) fewer new takeaways opened than would have been expected over the six-year post-intervention period. When stratified by policy type, effects were most prominent for full management zones and town centre exempt zones. Estimates of intervention effects on numbers of new takeaways on the periphery of management zones, and on the presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones, did not meet statistical significance. Our findings suggest that management zone policies were able to demonstrably curb the proliferation of new takeaways. Modelling studies are required to measure the possible population health impacts associated with this change.

Abstract 19: Time-Varying Exposure to Food Retailers and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality in the Netherlands: A Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study

Background: The food environment is suggested as a risk factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but current evidence is inconsistent and does not account for changes in the food environment. We aimed to explore if time-varying exposure to the food environment was associated with hospitalisation and mortality due to total and specific types of CVD in The Netherlands. We hypothesized that favourable time-varying trends in food environment exposure would be associated with decreased risk of CVD, stroke, heart failure (HF), and coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality among the Dutch general population. Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed among all Dutch residents aged 35+ years who did not change residence in 2002-2018 without CVD in 2004, identified through registry data from Statistics Netherlands (n=4,641,435; 51.3% female, 91.2% Dutch). Time-varying Food Environment Healthiness Index (FEHI) scores (range: -5 to 5) and time-varying Kernel density of six specific food retailers (food delivery outlets, fast food outlets, restaurants, local food shops, supermarkets and convenience stores) around the home location were based on bi-annual updates between 2004-2018. Hospitalisation and mortality due to overall CVD, stroke, HF, and CHD occurring between 2004 and 2020 were used as outcomes, based on hospital and death registries. Models were adjusted for age, sex, ethnic origin, household composition, income, marital status and neighbourhood urbanisation level and effect modification by age, sex, urbanization and income was studied. Results: Each unit increase in the FEHI, representing a 10% improvement, was associated with a lower hospitalisation and mortality of CVD (hospitalization Hazard Ratio (HR h )=0.90, 0.89-0.91, mortality Hazard Ratio (HR m )=0.85, 0.82-0.89), CHD (HR h =0.88, 0.85-0.91, HR m =0.80, 0.75-0.86), stroke (HR h =0.89, 0.84-0.93, HR m =0.89, 0.82-0.98), and HF (HR h =0.90, 0.84-0.96, HR m =0.84, 0.76-0.92). Increased density of local food shops, fast food outlets, supermarkets and convenience stores, and decreased density of food delivery outlets and restaurants were associated with a higher risk of CVD, CHD, stroke and HF incidence and mortality, albeit with small effect sizes. Stratified analyses suggest slightly stronger associations in highly urbanized areas, younger adults and those with higher incomes. Conclusions: Favourable trends in time-varying food retailer exposure were associated with a risk reduction in CVD hospitalisation and mortality, in particular in urbanized areas and for younger adults and those with higher incomes.

Assessing the Market Potential of Mamachef's Purply Ice Cream Made from Underutilized Local Crops in Malaysian Retail Markets

The Mamachef Purply Ice Cream is developed from purple sweet potato. A sensory analysis and interview session was done with 11 trained panelists. The data has been analyzed using Atlas.ti based on thematic analyses. This unique ice cream is like other commercial ice cream, with natural purple color, and free from food additives. Its flesh also acts as a fat replacer in the Mamachef Purply Ice Cream. The processing of Mamachef Purply Ice Cream would increase the economic aspects among small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) and farmers and has an excellent potential to be marketed commercial food outlets.

Effect of mobile food environments on fast food visits

Poor diets are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Exposure to low-quality food environments saturated with fast food outlets is hypothesized to negatively impact diet. However, food environment research has predominantly focused on static food environments around home neighborhoods and generated mixed findings. In this work, we leverage population-scale mobility data in the U.S. to examine 62M people’s visits to food outlets and evaluate how food choice is influenced by the food environments people are exposed to as they move through their daily routines. We find that a 10% increase in exposure to fast food outlets in mobile environments increases individuals’ odds of visitation by 20%. Using our results, we simulate multiple policy strategies for intervening on food environments to reduce fast-food outlet visits. This analysis suggests that optimal interventions are informed by spatial, temporal, and behavioral features and could have 2x to 4x larger effect than traditional interventions focused on home food environments.

The Disruption of the Pandemic in the use of Hospitality Establishments and Services in South Africa

The tourism and hospitality sectors were among the most negatively impacted industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many studies have reflected on the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality industry; however, more needs to be written about the effect on the customers. Therefore, this paper aims to report if COVID-19 has affected the use of hospitality establishments and service customers during and after the lockdown in South Africa. This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Google Forms were used for data collection using snowball and convenience sampling techniques. Seven hospitality establishment categories (Bed and breakfast, guesthouses, hotels, Airbnb, sit-down restaurants, fast food outlets, and wine farms) and two hospitality services (Catering services and delivery services) participated in the study. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and presented using descriptive statistics. Demographic data was introduced to give an overview of all the respondents. Most respondents were female (64%) and Africans (69%). Most respondents were employees (49%), earning salaries ranging between R5000 and R50 000. Most customers indicated that they continued to use these establishments and services during the lockdown and were willing to continue doing so post-lockdown. In terms of salaries versus the categories of establishments, customers who earned less visited establishments the most. However, it was observed that customers who visited restaurants were from all salary ranges (brackets). This indicates that customers always continue visiting hospitality establishments and utilising hospitality services. This affirms the importance of the hospitality industry in the social and economic space.

Evaluating The Use Of Multi-Sided Platforms On The Brand Performance Of Malaysian SME Food Outlets

The Malaysian food industry has been increasingly using the services of multi-sided platforms (MSPs) to offer online food delivery services, especially in urban cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Various global research has also found consistent indications that this trend will continue to grow over the next few years. This service involves the active collaboration between MSPs such as GrabFood and Foodpanda, delivery riders, end consumers, and food outlets. While there are many studies that evaluate the MSP business model and consumer behavior in this industry, there are limited studies that focus on the perspective of the food outlets. This study will address this research gap while focusing specifically on Malaysian SME food outlets to see if using MSPs to offer online food delivery services can improve their brand performance, both in terms of financial performance and brand equity. In addition, the study evaluates the effect that a food outlet’s intellectual capital has on the decision to use MSPs. The study also includes perceived environmental turbulence as a moderating variable on the relationship between MSPs and brand performance. The result of the study shows the impact of different intellectual capital assets on business model innovation activity. It also shows that there is no significant moderating impact of environmental turbulence on this industry even though there is evident turbulence. Lastly, the results show that using MSPs does improve the brand performance of Malaysian SME food outlets.

Knowledge Management and Organizational Quality Service Delivery: A Survey of Selected Fast Food Outlets in Yenagoa Metropolis, Bayelsa State

Knowledge management comprises the processes of knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application that an organization employs to recognize and record knowledge, lessons learned, or best practices This study set out to ascertain the significance of knowledge management and organizational quality service delivery; a survey of selected fast food outlets in Yenagoa metropolis, Bayelsa state. To this end, a descriptive survey research design methodology was applied to scrutinize and give analytical views on existing works of literature and concepts surrounding the role the significance of knowledge management and organizational quality service delivery; a survey of selected fast food outlets in Yenagoa metropolis, Bayelsa state. Knowledge acquisition and organizational innovativeness have a considerable association, according to a detailed data analysis of the study's many components. Furthermore, the research shows a strong connection between organizational innovation and knowledge storage. The results of the study also revealed a strong link between organizational innovation and information distribution. The study also found a strong link between knowledge application and business innovation within organizations. In other words, the study found that management should be skilled at translating new and/or enhanced products, services, and strategies from acquired knowledge and expertise. In view of the above, the study concluded that competitiveness can only be achieved through innovation when the organization can successfully acquire, store, disseminates and applies knowledge. The study recommends thus; fast food outlets should create different mechanisms that will facilitate the acquisition of Knowledge from both internal and external sources. Fast food outlets through flyers and handbills should inform the public on their products.

Global positioning system-based food environment exposures, diet-related, and cardiometabolic health outcomes: a systematic review and research agenda

BackgroundGeographic access to food may affect dietary choices and health outcomes, but the strength and direction of associations may depend on the operationalization of exposure measures. We aimed to systematically review the literature on up-to-date evidence on the association between food environment exposures based on Global Positioning System (GPS) and diet-related and cardiometabolic health outcomes.MethodsThe databases PubMed, Embase.com, APA PsycInfo (via Ebsco), Cinahl (via Ebsco), the Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, and the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (via ProQuest) were searched from inception to October 31, 2022. We included studies that measured the activity space through GPS tracking data to identify exposure to food outlets and assessed associations with either diet-related or cardiometabolic health outcomes. Quality assessment was evaluated using the criteria from a modified version of the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) for cross-sectional studies. We additionally used four items from a quality assessment tool to specifically assess the quality of GPS measurements.ResultsOf 2949 studies retrieved, 14 studies fulfilled our inclusion criteria. They were heterogeneous and represent inconsistent evidence. Yet, three studies found associations between food outlets and food purchases, for example, more exposure to junk food outlets was associated with higher odds of junk food purchases. Two studies found associations between greater exposure to fast food outlets and higher fast food consumption and out of three studies that investigated food environment in relation to metabolic outcomes, two studies found that higher exposure to an unhealthy food environment was associated with higher odds of being overweight.ConclusionsThe current and limited evidence base does not provide strong evidence for consistent associations of GPS-based exposures of the food environment with diet-related and cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Contaminated Money Investigation into the Hygiene Status of some Hospitals as Obtained from Food Outlet

This study aims to determine the presence of bacterial contamination associated with currency as obtained from hospital’s food outlet. Samples were randomly collected from cafeteria’s of Benghazi Medical Center Hospital, Benghazi Children's Hospital, and Al Jalaa Hospital. Bacteria isolates belonged to gram negative and gram positive were used to perform antibiotic sensitivity testing. Total count of bacteria from currency found 10 type of bacteria, the highest type of bacteria, Lactobacillus 50%, followed by Acinetobacter 20.3%, Klebsiella 7.4%, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli 3.7%, while the lowest Staphylococcus epidermas, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Rhizobium radiobacter were 1.8% and no growth 22.8%, the sensitivity of the isolated bacteria showed the Acinetobacter baumanni highest resistant to Augmantine (78%) and lowest to both Ceftazidimde and Aztronam with (11%), the Klebsiella pneumonia shows (100%) resistant to Erythromycin and Oxcilin. While the two sample of Escherichia coli were resistant to Augmantine and Ceftazidime. In addition, the two samples of Staphylococcus aureus were resistant to Erythromycin and Oxcilin (100%), two samples of Staphylococcu epidermidis were resistant to Erythromycin and Oxcilin (100%), while the one sample Pseudomonas spp was resistant to Colastin (100%), the Pantoea spp sample was resistant to both Ceftriaxone and Colastin (100%), while the only sample of Staphylococcus Haemolyticus was resistant (100%) to Erythromycin. Confirming that the contaminated currency spread in the hospital cafeteria was contaminated with disease-causing bacteria.

Measuring the Potential and Realized (or Revealed) Spatial Access from Places of Residence and Work to Food Outlets in Rural Communities of Québec, Canada

This study aims to bridge the gap between the potential and realized spatial access to food outlets in rural areas of Québec, Canada. By assessing both aspects, this research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by rural communities in accessing food resources and the effectiveness of existing interventions in addressing these challenges. A mixed methods approach was adopted to collect and analyze data, combining GIS-based spatial analysis with community-based surveys. The spatial analysis allowed for the quantification of the potential access metrics, while the community surveys provided valuable information on travel behaviors, preferences, and barriers experienced by residents when accessing food outlets. The results of the distance measurement calculations showed that for both the potential and realized distance measurements, convenience stores are more easily accessible than grocery stores and supermarkets. Thus, workers seem to have a strategy for minimizing the impact of long distances by combining work and grocery shopping. These results are measured for the realized accessibility to grocery stores and supermarkets and the principal retailer used. Finally, the results of the analyses show that there is a socio-economic gradient in the potential geographical accessibility from home to the food outlets. The importance of developing and strengthening the local food environment to make it favourable to healthy eating and supportive of food security is discussed.

The Level of Sustainability to Operate a Franchised Food Outlet in South Africa: A Fast Food Industry Case

This study aimed to determine the sustainability of operate a franchise in the fast-food industry and operating an outlet of a particular brand. It will also close the literature gap by empirically investigating the influence of various factors on the growth of franchised fast-food outlets and the sustainability of the business operating model. The study used a sequential explan-atory mixed method design. The main finding of the study was that level of success of SMEs in operating a franchised food outlet in South Africa is generally low and operating a franchised food outlet in South Africa is not a guarantee that the business will have a sustainable competitive advantage.

A participatory approach to model the neighbourhood food environment.

Inequalities in exposure to a health-promoting local food environment have been implicated in the generation of inequalities in diet-related behaviours and outcomes, including obesity and diabetes. Increasingly, poor diet and diet-related disease have been characterised as an emergent property of a complex system and, as such, the drivers of poor diet may be better understood by using a complex system perspective. In this study, we describe a participatory approach for understanding the system drivers of unhealthy food consumption. System dynamics (SD) was used to identify, understand, and visualise the elements of the neighbourhood food retail system that influence individuals' eating behaviour. Group Model Building (GMB), undertaken online with stakeholders (n = 11), was used to funnel existing knowledge and evidence on urban food environments and to build a conceptual system map of the local food retail environment inclusive of the drivers that influence the decision to purchase and consume meals that are high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS), and calories. The GMB was organised as a knowledge elicitation process involving a questionnaire, a workbook, and a structured workshop. The GMB generated a comprehensive causal loop diagram (CLD) of the retail environment inclusive of the drivers that influence the decision to purchase and consume unhealthy meals. The CLD was designed around two main variables (i) exposure to food outlets and (ii) food consumption. The system map built during the Group Model Building session linked exposure to food outlets with the possibility to purchase and consume unhealthy meals. The effectiveness of this link will be tested in an Agent-Based model. The conceptual model illustrates the complexity of the factors responsible for inequalities in unhealthy eating. The GMB approach provides a basis for building an agent-based model for local authorities to characterise their food retail environment, uncover potential leverage points for interventions and test them 'in silico' in a virtual environment.

A CASE STUDY TO EXAMINE THE FEEDING PRACTICES OF PUPILS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KAYUNGA DISTRICT, CENTRAL UGANDA. A DESCRIPTIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY STUDY.

Background This study aims to document the feeding practices of pupils in primary schools in Kayunga district, central Uganda. Feeding is the provision of meals to a person or animals. In children, feeding occurs in the context of the caregiver-child dyad. Feeding practices in this context are arrangements of providing food to school children. For this study, feeding practices are home-packed food, school-prepared food, and commercialized food outlets. Feeding practices are an important determinant of children’s nutritional status, which is directly related to the risk of becoming sick and dying. Kayunga district is one of the districts in the central region of Uganda with many pupils as the leading population of learners. Therefore, feeding is one of the basics to support an education. Therefore, this study seeks to assess the feeding practices of pupils in primary schools in Kayunga district, central Uganda. Methodology This study used a descriptive cross-sectional correlational survey design and adopted a mixed research approach. Results The findings showed that 59% of the pupils were getting meals prepared at school, 36% of the pupils get meals from home and 5% of the pupils are getting meals from food outlets. Conclusion There were three main feeding practices in primary schools in Kayunga District. Namely; package food from home, school arranged feeding and food from outlets like canteen and restaurants. The study documented that among the three main feeding practices, most pupils are fed from school on the school management arrangements in Kayunga District. Recommendation Schools should also provide storage places for meals of students. This will help students to have meals at the appropriate time and use available time to read without interruptions.

Comparison of the Longevity of Food and Beverage Outlets- Comparison between Dubai and Newyork

The beverage and food sectors in both Dubai and New York exhibit a wide range of offerings and play a significant role in bolstering their respective economic landscapes. This study examines the durability of food and beverage establishments in Dubai and New York. Utilising a design based on qualitative data has been selected as the chosen methodology for the investigation. Furthermore, a decision was made to carry out semi-structured interviews. A total of ten interviews were conducted, with five conducted with restaurant managers in New York and the remaining five led by cafe managers in Dubai. Thematic analysis was chosen for analysing the gathered data in this research study. Research has demonstrated that marketing and branding are crucial in determining food and beverage enterprises' sustainability and financial prosperity. Furthermore, it has been revealed that a strategy utilised by Dubai food and beverage businesses is offering extraordinary dining experiences. Food and beverage enterprises in New York City often stress and emphasise the importance of quality. Meals and beverage establishments in New York and Dubai prioritise offering exceptional quality meals and beverages to attract clients and justify higher pricing. Moreover, employing technology and thoroughly analysing its current path to attain successful businesses is crucial. Theoretical aspects can provide businesses with a comprehensive understanding of a subject, leading to potential benefits such as producing productive outputs and maintaining a competitive position in the market. The present analysis focuses on the food and beverage industry in Dubai and New York, examining the various aspects of these industries, including food and beverage outlets. Additionally, the study explores the longevity of these F&B industries and provides a comparative analysis of the food and beverage industry in Dubai and New York.

Food and Consumers' Environment Inside and around Federal Public Schools in Bahia, Brazil.

The food environment plays a crucial role in shaping people's eating habits and, in and around schools, this influence becomes even more critical due to the time students spend daily in these spaces. This study aimed to analyze the food and consumer environments inside and around federal institutes in Bahia, Brazil. Ecological study and audit methodologies were combined, with all the 35 federal institutes in Bahia as the sample universe. To delimit the food environment around the school, the establishments were mapped in a 1000 m buffer, with the school as the centroid. The geographic coordinates of schools and food outlets were initially obtained using Google Maps and later confirmed on-site. The data were collected in WGS 84 and converted to UTM zone 23S SIRGAS 2000. To map the consumer environment, establishments found in a 250 m buffer and also canteens within schools were audited, using the ESAO-r instrument that considers the availability and prices of healthy and unhealthy foods; availability of nutritional information near the point of purchase or on the menu; and presence of internal marketing of healthy and unhealthy foods. The healthy meal-restaurant index (HMRI) was also measured. This index ranges from 0 to 8 points and positively scores items related to healthy consumption and fails to score those related to unhealthy consumption and behavior. The establishments were grouped into four categories (healthy, unhealthy, mixed, and supermarkets). The surrounding area with four or more unhealthy establishments within the 250 m buffer was considered a food swamp. Descriptive analyses were carried out with frequency measurements, measures of central tendency (mean and median), and dispersion (standard deviation). Around the analyzed schools, 732 food establishments were identified, 73.8% (n = 540) formal and 26.2% (n = 192) informal. Considering the characteristics of existing commerce, there was a predominance of snack bars (45%), grocery stores (23%), and bars (7.8%), with a smaller number of supermarkets identified (4.1%). School canteens were found in 20 schools analyzed and only 15% had a variety of healthy foods. When evaluating the availability of healthy foods, a median HMRI of 3 (1-7) was observed. When analyzing this index according to the type of establishment, it was found that fruit and vegetables presented higher values (HMRI = 7; P25-P75: 4-8) compared to large chain supermarkets (HMRI = 5; P25-P75: 2-6; p < 0.001) and local markets (HMRI = 4; P25-P75: 2-5; p < 0.001). From the analysis of the food and consumer environments, it was possible to make inferences about the quality of the food offered to students in these locations, as well as the potential health outcomes arising from this exposure and the need to carry out food education activities and nutritional activities.

Introduction of AI-based sales forecasting: how to drive digital transformation in food and beverage outlets

Food and beverage (F&B) outlets such as restaurants, delis and fast-food joins are commonly owner-operated small businesses with limited access to modern forecasting technologies. Managers often rely on experience-based forecasting heuristics, which face challenges, as demand is dependent on external factors such as weather conditions, holidays, and regional events. Introducing practical AI-based sales forecasting techniques is a way to improve operational and financial planning and automate repetitive forecasting tasks. This case study proposes an approach to work with F&B owners in creating and introducing machine learning (ML)-based sales forecasting tailored to the unique local aspects of the business. It enhances demand forecasting in the F&B domain by identifying data types and sources that improve predictive models and bolster managerial trust. The case study uses over 5 years of hourly sales data from a fast-food franchise in Germany. It trains a predictive algorithm using historical sales, promotional activities, weather conditions, regional holidays and events, as well as macroeconomic indicators. The AI model surpasses heuristic forecasts, reducing the root mean squared error by 22% to 33% and the mean average error by 19% to 31%. Although the initial implementation demands managerial involvement in selecting predictors and real-world testing, this forecasting method offers practical benefits for F&B businesses, enhancing both their operations and environmental impact.

Assessing food availability and healthier options in an urban Chinese university: a case study using the Chinese Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey for Stores (C-NEMS-S).

Young adults (18-24 years) in universities are frequently exposed to an environment that promotes unhealthy eating behaviors. Using a validated tool, the Chinese Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey for Stores (C-NEMS-S), we assess the food availability and healthier options in a large, urban Chinese university. We employed C-NEMS-S for scoring criteria and weighting. A total of 52 on-campus canteen outlets were audited in an urban university located in Shijiazhuang City, China. General food outlets (n 43) and self-served food outlets (n 7) were further categorized into eight subtypes. Beverage outlets (n 2) were discussed separately from food outlets. C-NEMS-S scores were significantly different across food outlet types (P = 0.0024), especially between noodle and rice outlets (P = 0.0415). Food availability scores for starchy tubers (P < 0.001), dry beans (P < 0.001), vegetables (P = 0.0225), and fruits (P < 0.001) were significantly different across food outlet subtypes. Healthier options were scarce and only appeared in "grains" (n 2) and "meat and poultry" (n 2) categories. Further research on improving the accustomed audit tool and assessing university student diet quality is warranted.

Designing and Evaluating a Hierarchical Framework for Matching Food Outlets across Multi-sourced Geospatial Datasets: a Case Study of San Diego County.

Research on retail food environment (RFE) relies on data availability and accuracy. However, the discrepancies in RFE datasets may lead to imprecision when measuring association with health outcomes. In this research, we present a two-tier hierarchical point of interest (POI) matching framework to compare and triangulate food outlets across multiple geospatial data sources. Two matching parameters were used including the geodesic distance between businesses and the similarity of business names according to Levenshtein distance (LD) and Double Metaphone (DM). Sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine thresholds of matching parameters. Our Tier 1 matching used more restricted parameters to generate high confidence-matched POIs, whereas in Tier 2 we opted for relaxed matching parameters and applied a weighted multi-attribute model on the previously unmatched records. Our case study in San Diego County, California used government, commercial, and crowdsourced data and returned 20.2% matched records from Tier 1 and 18.6% matched from Tier 2. Our manual validation shows a 100% matching rate for Tier 1 and up to 30.6% for Tier 2. Matched and unmatched records from Tier 1 were further analyzed for spatial patterns and categorical differences. Our hierarchical POI matching framework generated highly confident food POIs by conflating datasets and identified some food POIs that are unique to specific data sources. Triangulating RFE data can reduce uncertain and invalid POI listings when representing food environment using multiple data sources. Studies investigating associations between food environment and health outcomes may benefit from improved quality of RFE.

Adolescents' perceptions of food outlets in the school neighbourhood and their unhealthy snacking behaviour on the way to and from school.

To understand the relationship between adolescents' unhealthy snacking behaviour during their school journey and their perceived and objective measures of food outlet availability in the school neighbourhood. A cross-sectional survey enquired about socio-demographic information, school transport modes, perceived presence of food outlets in the school neighbourhood and unhealthy food purchase and consumption on the school journey. A geographical information system analysis of the food outlets within 500 m and 1000 m school buffers was undertaken. Data were analysed using generalised linear mixed modelling. All twelve secondary schools in Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, March 2020-June 2022. Adolescents aged 13-18 years (n 725) who reported being familiar with their school neighbourhood. Perceived availability of food outlets in the school neighbourhood was inversely correlated with distance to the closest food outlet from school and positively correlated with food outlet density within 500 m and 1000 m school buffers. Adolescents' purchase and consumption of unhealthy snacks and drinks during the school journey were associated with perceived availability of food outlets and with shorter distance to the closest food outlet from school. Mixed transport users, girls and those living in high-deprivation neighbourhoods had higher odds of purchasing and consuming unhealthy snacks and drinks during the school journey than active transport users, boys and those living in low-deprivation neighbourhoods, respectively. Adolescents perceptions of the food environment and close access to food outlets in the school neighbourhood may influence adolescents' food purchase and consumption behaviours during the school journey.

Benchmarking online food delivery applications against menu labelling laws: a cross-sectional observational analysis.

It is unknown how well menu labelling schemes that enforce the display of kilojoule (kJ) labelling at point-of-sale have been implemented on online food delivery (OFD) services in Australia. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of kJ labelling on the online menus of large food outlets with more than twenty locations in the state or fifty locations nationally. A secondary aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of menu items on OFD from mid-sized outlets that have fewer locations than what is specified in the current scheme. Cross-sectional analysis. Prevalence of kJ labelling by large food outlets on OFD from August to September 2022 was examined. Proportion of discretionary ('junk food') items on menus from mid-sized outlets was assessed. Forty-three unique large food outlets on company (e.g. MyMacca's) and third party OFD (Uber Eats, Menulog, Deliveroo) within Sydney, Australia. Ninety-two mid-sized food outlets were analysed. N/A. On company OFD apps, 35 % (7/23) had complete kJ labelling for each menu item. In comparison, only 4·8 % (2/42), 5·3 % (2/38) and 3·6 % (1/28) of large outlets on Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo had complete kJ labelling at all locations, respectively. Over three-quarters, 76·3 % (345/452) of menu items from mid-sized outlets were classified as discretionary. Kilojoule labelling was absent or incomplete on a high proportion of online menus. Mid-sized outlets have abundant discretionary choices and yet escape criteria for mandatory menu labelling laws. Our findings show the need to further monitor the implementation of nutrition policies on OFD.