FAT CHANCE AT HEALTH

Supermarkets in poorer suburbs stack shelves with discount junk food

AUSTRALIAN supermarkets offer more discounts on unhealthy options and stock a higher percentage of sugary or fatty products in poorer suburbs, new data has revealed.

Deakin University’s Food Environment Dashboard has handed out red flags to all Australian grocery chains, which were found to make it “impossible” to shop without being overexposed to junk food.

The dashboard also ranked the worst offenders among the supermarket giants in their commitment to nutritional policies.

They were given a score out of 100 and IGA was the worst with a score of nine.

Woolworths scored highest with 46, with Coles second (40), Aldi third (11) and IGA last.

Deakin’s studies of nutrition policies and shelf space found Australian supermarkets over-promote, discount and display unhealthy foods, such as chocolates, chips and sugary drinks.

Among the alarming findings was that 88 per cent of shelf space at check-outs was devoted to unhealthy food or drinks, while 65.9 per cent of products stored at the end of aisle displays were also unhealthy.

More than 43 per cent of the items that were promoted in weekly catalogues were junk food, versus 34.2 per cent healthy items.

“Unhealthy diets are leading contributors to poor health in Australia. Our diets are so bad because wherever we go, unhealthy food is pushed at us,” associate professor Gary Sacks said.

Prof Sacks, from Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre, said it was “almost impossible to pay for groceries at a supermarket without being exposed to unhealthy food and drinks”.

“Unhealthy products are ‘on special’ almost twice as often as healthy foods, and the discounts on unhealthy foods are much larger than the discounts on healthier foods,” he said.

Another significant concern raised in the study was that supermarkets in lower socioeconomic areas had more shelf space devoted to junk food and drink compared to more affluent areas.

It found 9.7 per cent more shelf space was stocked with such items in the most disadvantaged areas.

“Supermarkets located in more socio-economically disadvantaged areas have more shelf space allocated to key unhealthy food and drinks compared with healthy items, than stores located in the most advantaged areas,” the study found.

Key recommendations include that supermarkets offer fewer discounts on unhealthy products, provide healthier checkout displays and increase catalogue and shelf space devoted to nutritional products.