There are calls for Australia to follow England’s lead and ban multi-buy promotions for junk food after research confirmed supermarkets continue to put unhealthy food on special twice as often as more nutritious alternatives.<\/p>\n
In 2019, researchers from Deakin University’s Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) studied the weekly online prices of almost 1,600 foods at Australia’s largest supermarkets across the course of a year.<\/p>\n
Their study found an average of nearly 29 per cent of unhealthy foods were discounted or on special on any given week.<\/p>\n
But for healthy foods \u2014 including bread, muesli, oats, canned legumes, frozen vegetables and low-sugar breakfast cereals \u2014 the figure was only 15.<\/p>\n
Those findings were reviewed this year and \u2014 while the update is yet to be published \u2014 GLOBE’s associate director Adrian Cameron says the results were the same.<\/p>\n
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A year-long study found an average of about 29 per cent of junk foods were put on special on any given week. (ABC: Alys Marshall)<\/p>\n
Mr Cameron said this year’s findings showed the products being promoted more often also tended to have a larger environmental footprint due to their production and packaging processes.<\/p>\n
“The more they were on price promotion, the worse they were for the people and for the planet,” he said.<\/p>\n
Call for Australia to ban junk food specials<\/p>\n
A ban on multi-buy and buy one, get one free specials on unhealthy foods and drinks<\/a> came into effect in England on October 1.<\/p>\n The measure had been in the works for several years but was delayed because of the cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n Wales is introducing similar restrictions next year and Scotland has said it will also adopt the legislation.<\/p>\n Jane Martin says specials and multi-buy offers encourage impulse buying. (Supplied: Food for Health Alliance)<\/p>\n Australia’s Food for Health Alliance \u2014 formerly known as the Obesity Policy Coalition \u2014 said price discounts and multi-buy promotions often led to impulse buying rather than helping customers afford their grocery lists.\u00a0<\/p>\n The alliance’s Jane Martin called on the federal government to follow the UK’s example and stop supermarkets from enticing people into buying unhealthy food.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We know from research that purchases of price-promoted products tend to result in stockpiling and increased overall consumption of those products,” Ms Martin said.<\/p>\n “They encourage additional purchases and greater volume purchases.”<\/p>\n Ms Martin pointed to a 2023 Cancer Council Victoria survey of more than 2,000 Australians that found about four in five adults noticed unhealthy food and drink promotions while shopping in a supermarket.<\/p>\n Almost two-thirds of respondents said price discounts prompted them to buy more unhealthy food than they intended, and 38 per cent nominated multi-buy offers as their reason for over-purchasing.<\/p>\n The majority of Australians surveyed say they noticed specials on unhealthy foods and drinks when shopping. (ABC News: Erin Parke)<\/p>\n “So it does create these sort of unplanned purchases, impulse purchases, and if we could shift that to healthier foods, to fruit and veg and other healthier products \u2026 then that could have a significant impact on health,” Ms Martin said.<\/p>\n “So not just increasing the amount of healthy, nourishing food that people are buying but also pushing them away from these unhealthy packaged foods that they’re only buying because they’re price-promoted.”<\/p>\n Dr Alexandra Chung says baby food specials are dominated by products that are high in sugar and low in nutrition. (Supplied: Alexandra Chung)<\/p>\n Alexandra Chung, a senior lecturer at Monash University’s Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, said the pattern was replicated across a wide range of products.<\/p>\n The dietician’s team analysed the baby and toddler foods advertised in supermarket catalogues and found the discounted items were dominated by packaged products that often did not meet children’s health and development needs.<\/p>\n “We know that packaged foods are really dominated by foods that are quite high in fruit concentrates and added sugars,” Dr Chung said.<\/p>\n “They don’t tend to offer the nutritional variety that babies and young children need.”<\/p>\n A price problem with flow-on effects<\/p>\n The federal government’s latest National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey concluded 1.3 million Australian households experienced food insecurity in 2023.<\/p>\n The survey of 8,800 households found one in eight were unable to access food in the quantity and quality they needed to live an active and healthy life, and were more likely to have poorer diets with inadequate nutrients as a result.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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