Food availability and advertising within food outlets around primary healthcare services in Brazil

Abstract

The consumer food environment is changing: an extensive variety of foods are now available in most markets, offering palatability, convenience and novelty. However, little is known about the availability and advertising of food items within food outlets, especially among developing countries. The present study examined these dimensions in 281 food outlets located around eighteen primary healthcare services in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 2013. These establishments were classified as large-chain supermarkets; specialised fruits and vegetable (F&V) markets; and local grocery stores, convenience stores or bakeries. Availability of F&V, availability of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and food advertising were compared across the food outlet categories by applying the χ2 test. Almost 60 % of the food outlets were specialised F&V markets, 21.4 % were large-chain supermarkets and 19.2 % were local grocery stores, convenience stores or bakeries. Almost 80 % contained at least eight types of fruits and vegetables, and 60 % contained UPF. Food advertisement was absent in 59.8 % of the food outlets, 19.6 % were advertising only F&V and 17.4 % were advertising only UPF. Higher F&V availability was noted inside specialised F&V markets and large-chain supermarkets than local grocery stores, convenience stores or bakeries. Advertising of F&V was more common within specialised F&V markets. However, large-chain supermarkets and local grocery stores, convenience stores or bakeries contained more frequent UPF food advertising isolated: 38.3 and 35.2 %, respectively. Therefore, the availability and advertising of food items within food outlets around primary healthcare services are different according to the type of food outlet.