Aotearoa's Food Environment Dashboard

Overview

Domain Assessment What was measured?
Food composition

Proportion of products classified as unhealthy, for: packaged foods (2018), non-alcoholic beverages (2019), and the fast food supply (2020).

Food labelling

Proportion of eligible packaged food and drinks that display the Health Star Rating, and average rating of those that do vs. those that don’t display (2019); proportion of fast-food chains that provide nutrition information(2020); prevalence of nutrient content claims and health claims on ‘less healthy’ packaged foods (2014)

Food prices and affordability

Overall spending on ‘discretionary’ foods (2016); cost of healthy diets relative to current diets (2016); change in prices of healthier and less healthy foods over time (2021); prevalence of price promotions for junk foods in supermarket flyers (2020)

Food promotion

Average rate and proportion of unhealthy food and drink advertisements on TV (2018), company websites (2020), Facebook and YouTube posts (2019); rate of exposure and density of unhealthy advertisements in outdoor areas important to children (2014-2016); proportion of food and drink sponsorships of children’s sport clubs that are from fast food chains (2019/2020).

Food in settings

Schools: proportion of ‘milk and water only’ schools (2016), proportion of food for sale that is ‘occasional’ (2016), prevalence of food and beverage-related fundraising (2016);

Hospitals: number of District Health Boards that fully adopted the National Healthy Food and Drink Policy (2021).

Food retail

Supermarkets: ratio of junk food^ price promotions to fresh fruit and vegetable promotions in supermarket flyers (2020), average proportion of aisle end-caps, island bins, and checkouts within each supermarket that are junk food free (2020); scored commitments related to nutrition and obesity prevention of the major supermarkets (2017);

Fast food retail: scored  commitments related to nutrition and obesity prevention of the major fast food chains (2017);

Recreation centres: proportion of Auckland Council leisure centres where water fountains are the only drinks available (2020), and where sugary drinks are not sold (2020); level of policy met for the drinks section of the Food and Drinks Guidelines for Cafeterias (2020).

Private sector

Policies and commitments of food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, supermarkets, and fast food outlets; product healthiness (average Health Star Rating of product portfolio) for packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, including supermarket own-brands.

Government policies

Expert assessment of Government’s level of implementation of policies and infrastructure support for improving the healthiness of food environments against international best practice (2020).

Equity  

Promotion: density and proportion of junk food advertisements around low vs. high decile schools (2016);

Food in schools: proportion of foods offered for sale that are ‘occasional’ items in most deprived compared to least deprived schools (primary and secondary)(2016);

In-store environments: average proportion of aisle end-caps, island bins and checkouts within each supermarket that are junk food free, in most deprived and least deprived neighbourhoods (2020);

Food retail: density of unhealthy outlets around most vs least deprived urban schools (2014), availability of fast-food and takeaway outlets, convenience stores, and supermarkets in most vs least deprived areas (2014);

Food prices and affordability: cost of a healthy diet as a proportion of income for median-income, low-income groups, and groups receiving income support (2016).

 

*Green = ‘promotes health’; Orange = ‘needs improvement to promote health’; Red = ‘unhealthy’.