Food Outlet Access and the Healthiness of Food Available ‘On-Demand’ via Meal Delivery Apps in New Zealand

Abstract

Access to unhealthy commodities is a key factor determining consumption, and therefore influences the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Recently, there has been an increase in the availability of food ‘on-demand’ via meal delivery apps (MDAs). However, the public health and equity impacts of this shift are not yet well understood. This study focused on three MDAs in New Zealand and aimed to answer (1) what is the health profile of the foods being offered on-demand, (2) how many food outlets are available and does this differ by physical access or neighbourhood demographics and (3) does the health profile of foods offered differ by physical access or neighbourhood demographics? A dataset was created by sampling a set of street addresses across a range of demographic variables, and recording the menu items and number of available outlets offered to each address. Machine learning was utilised to evaluate the healthiness of menu items, and we examined if healthiness and the number of available outlets varied by neighbourhood demographics. Over 75% of menu items offered by all MDAs were unhealthy and approximately 30% of all menu items across the three MDAs scored at the lowest level of healthiness. Statistically significant differences by demographics were identified in one of the three MDAs in this study, which suggested that the proportion of unhealthy foods offered was highest in areas with the greatest socioeconomic deprivation and those with a higher proportion of Māori population. Policy and regulatory approaches need to adapt to this novel mode of access to unhealthy foods, to mitigate public health consequences and the effects on population groups already more vulnerable to non-communicable diseases.

The potential influence of the digital food retail environment on health: A systematic scoping review of the literature

“…Nine of these studies examined the characteristics of online food delivery platform users, with the remaining 13 studies examining the characteristics of the platforms themselves, such as the in‐app promotional marketing, the healthiness of products offered, and their food availability across different geographical areas 68,69,71,73–77,80,82,83,86,87 …”

“…Nine of these studies examined the characteristics of online food delivery platform users, with the remaining 13 studies examining the characteristics of the platforms themselves, such as the in-app promotional marketing, the healthiness of products offered, and their food availability across different geographical areas. 68,69,71,[73][74][75][76][77]80,82,83,86,87 The studies that examined the users of online food delivery platforms were based in the United Kingdom, 79,81 Australia, 70,84 Malaysia, 72 Saudi Arabia, 67 Singapore, 85 the United States, 40 and multiple high income countries. 78 Two studies examined the influence of online food delivery platforms on dietary habits during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, 67,85 one study examined the in-app advertising of online food delivery platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, 75 and one study examined what food items were promoted on online food delivery platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Quantifying access to on‐demand alcohol in New Zealand

“…We also sampled to ensure that one‐third of addresses were areas within the top 20th percentile of Māori within each city. The stratified sampling method enabled evaluation of each variable in isolation of the others, similar to the approach taken previously for a study of on‐demand food access [18]. The density of physical alcohol outlets [19] was substituted for the density of unhealthy food outlets from a prior study.…”

“…T A B L E 2 Summary measures of access to on-demand alcohol. access [18]. The density of physical alcohol outlets [19] was substituted for the density of unhealthy food outlets from a prior study.…”

The Development and Potential of a Digital out of Home Food Environment Monitoring Platform

“…This form of food delivery has gained popularity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study looking at the healthiness of food and menu items in three cities in in New Zealand showed that over 75% of food and menu items offered on MDAs were classified as unhealthy based on Eating and Activity Guidelines for New Zealand Adults [ 14 ]. This trend has been observed in previous studies [ 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”