Policy levers to improve food provisioning environments: How effective are they?

This project is a literature review of how effective the policy levers are in improving food provisioning environments.

Background

---

A range of policy levers exist to help shift consumers towards healthier, more nutritious food options, and away from high-fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods when purchasing or otherwise acquiring food from retail outlets. 

Methodology

---

In order to identify and better understand the effectiveness of existing levers, we conducted a review of the academic literature.

The 10 specific levers that we identified include actions that can be taken both inside stores/outlets and through “alternative” forms of food provisioning, and can be classified as applicable to either

• neighbourhood planning and infrastructure,
• alternative food provisioning models,
• inside store/outlet environment, or
• consumers.

Additionally, evidence suggests four key considerations when implementing these actions:

• cost/price to consumers is critical;
• close consideration needs to be given to the context in which actions are implemented;
• a coordinated approach should be taken to combine new and existing actions (i.e. they should not be implemented in isolation); and
• the development and implementation of actions should involve the collaboration of all relevant stakeholders (especially retail owners/operators and the community).

Authors: Mark Spires, Anna Isaacs, Corinna Hawkes

 

 

> Back to Research projects

The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Healthy Weight is part of the NIHR and hosted by UCL.