Food and beverage manufacturing and retailing company policies and commitments to improve the healthfulness of Canadian food environments.

BACKGROUND: Food and beverage companies play a central role in shaping the healthfulness of food environments. METHODS: The BIA-Obesity tool was used to evaluate and benchmark the specificity, comprehensiveness and transparency of the food environment-related policies and commitments of leading food and beverage manufacturing and retailing companies in Canada. Policies and commitments related to the healthfulness of food environments within 6 action areas were assessed: 1) corporate nutrition strategy; 2) product (re)formulation; 3) nutrition information and labelling; 4) product and brand promotion; 5) product accessibility; and 6) disclosure of relationships with external organizations. Data were collected from publicly available sources, and companies were invited to supplement and validate information collected by the research team. Each company was then assigned a score out of 100 for each action area, and an overall BIA-Obesity score out of 100. RESULTS: Overall BIA-Obesity scores for manufacturers ranged from 18 to 75 out of 100 (median = 49), while scores for retailers ranged from 21 to 25 (median = 22). Scores were highest within the product (re)formulation (median = 60) followed by the corporate nutrition strategy (median = 59) domain for manufacturers, while retailers performed best within the corporate nutrition strategy (median = 53), followed by the disclosure of relationships with external organizations (median = 47) domain. Companies within both sectors performed worst within the product accessibility domain (medians = 8 and 0 for manufacturers and retailers, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights important limitations to self-regulatory approaches of the food and beverage industry to improve the healthfulness of food environments. Although some companies had specific, comprehensive, and transparent policies and commitments to address the healthfulness of food environments in Canada, most fell short of recommended best-practice. Additional mandatory government policies and regulations may be warranted to effectively transform Canadian food environments to promote healthier diets and prevent related non-communicable diseases.

The structure of the Canadian packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors through a public health lens.

BACKGROUND: Corporate power has been recognized as an important influence on food environments and population health more broadly. Understanding the structure of national food and beverage markets can provide important insight into the power held by leading corporations. This study aimed to descriptively analyze the structure of the Canadian food and beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors as of 2020/21. METHODS: Packaged food manufacturers, non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers and grocery retailers with ≥ 1% market share in 2020/21 in Canada as per Euromonitor International were identified and characterized. Proportion of market share held by public vs private, multinational vs national, and foreign multinational companies was assessed for the 3 sectors. The concentration of 14 packaged food, 8 non-alcoholic beverage and 5 grocery retailing markets was assessed using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the four firm concentration ratio (CR4) (HHI > 1800 and CR4 > 60 suggest high market concentration). Company ownership structure was also assessed, including common ownership of public companies by three of the largest global asset managers using data from Refinitiv Eikon, a financial market database. RESULTS: The Canadian non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing sector, and, to a lesser extent, the packaged food manufacturing sector were dominated by foreign multinational companies, in contrast with the grocery retailing sector which was dominated by national companies. Market concentration varied across sectors and markets but was substantially greater within the retailing (median CR4 = 84; median HHI = 2405) and non-alcoholic beverage sectors (median CR4 = 72; median HHI = 1995) compared to the packaged food sector (median CR4 = 51; median HHI = 932). There was considerable evidence of common ownership across sectors. Overall, the Vanguard Group Inc owned at least 1% of shares in 95% of publicly listed companies, Blackrock Institutional Trust Company 71%, and State Street Global Advisors (US) 43%. CONCLUSIONS: The Canadian packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors include several consolidated markets, with a high degree of common ownership by major investors. Findings suggest that a small number of large corporations, particularly in the retailing sector, have extensive power to influence Canadian food environments; their policies and practices warrant substantial attention as part of efforts to improve population diets in Canada.

The Covid-19 pandemic and food consumption at home and away: An exploratory study of English households.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed attitudes of English households towards food consumption at home and when eating out. Little academic research has however examined the scope and the scale of these changes, especially in the context of foodservice provision. This mixed methods study explores the effect of Covid-19 on food consumption in English households at home and away. It reveals increased frequency and variety of cooking during lockdown as a driver of household food wastage. The study demonstrates public hesitance towards eating out post-Covid-19. Foodservice providers are expected to re-design their business settings and adopt protective and preventative measures, such as frequent cleaning and routine health checks, to encourage visitation. After the pandemic, increased preference towards consuming (more) sustainable food at home, but not when eating out, is established. These insights can aid grocery and foodservice providers in offering more tailored products and services in a post-pandemic future.

"Maybe it's still good?" A qualitative study of factors influencing food waste and application of the E.P.A. Food recovery hierarchy in U.S. supermarkets.

About 31% of post-harvest food available for human consumption is lost or wasted annually in the United States. Roughly one third (43 billion lbs.) of food loss occurs in grocery and other retail food stores. Supermarkets engage in food waste reduction, rescue, and recycling strategies, but little is known about frontline workers' and department managers' perspectives on food discards and strategies to limit waste. We aimed to increase understanding of factors influencing grocery retail employees' food waste decision-making at the store level, and of the perspectives of those frontline supermarket workers and managers responsible for food waste prevention and mitigation. We conducted 20 qualitative semi-structured interviews and used thematic analysis to explore how grocery workers and managers view food waste decision drivers, and how these impact the feasibility and effectiveness of waste reduction and food rescue and recycling in their stores. Workers and managers report personalized discard decision-making and confusion between quality and safety indicators. Interviewees described in-store policies, resources and trainings as lacking or inconsistently applied, leading to variability in food waste prevention, rescue, and recycling. Overall, interview participants considered waste reduction strategies that rescue profitable goods more feasible than other food rescue and recycling efforts like donation and composting. Workers' and managers' perceptions of in-store food waste drivers and views on extant food waste prevention and mitigation efforts point to areas for future research and intervention.

Developing a National Research Agenda to Support Healthy Food Retail.

The food retail environment is an important driver of dietary choices. This article presents a national agenda for research in food retail, with the goal of identifying policies and corporate practices that effectively promote healthy food and beverage purchases and decrease unhealthy purchases. The research agenda was developed through a multi-step process that included (1) convening a scientific advisory committee; (2) commissioned research; (3) in-person expert convening; (4) thematic analysis of meeting notes and refining research questions; (5) follow-up survey of convening participants; and (6) refining the final research agenda. Public health researchers, advocates, food and beverage retailers, and funders participated in the agenda setting process. A total of 37 research questions grouped into ten priority areas emerged. Five priority areas focus on understanding the current food retail environment and consumer behavior and five focus on assessing implementation and effectiveness of interventions and policies to attain healthier retail. Priority topics include how frequency, duration, and impact of retailer promotion practices differ by community characteristics and how to leverage federal nutrition assistance programs to support healthy eating. To improve feasibility, researchers should explore partnerships with retailers and advocacy groups, identify novel data sources, and use a variety of study designs. This agenda can serve as a guide for researchers, food retailers, funders, government agencies, and advocacy organizations.

Customer Value Types Predicting Consumer Behavior at Dutch Grocery Retailers.

The purpose of this paper is to profile three grocery retail formats (non-discounter, soft discounter, and hard discounter) in the Netherlands using Holbrook's value types. These value types are linked to three consumer behavior outcomes, i.e., Satisfaction, Repurchase intention, and Word-of-Mouth. The impact of the retail formats is evaluated on the importance and performance of the value types, using a questionnaire for each of the retail formats. The relationship between the value types and outcomes is tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Aesthetics, Altruistic value, and Efficiency are positively linked to Satisfaction. In addition, Efficiency is the key driver for Repurchase intention and has a positive impact on Word-of-Mouth. A positive Word-of-Mouth is predicted by Social value and Service excellence. The three examined retail formats show a difference in Holbrook's value types. Overall, the results of the non- and soft discounters differ from the hard discounters. Remarkably, and contrary to previous studies, the soft discounter's scores are the highest meaning that consumers are most critical for this retail format. It seems that consumers expect the best of both worlds at soft discounters: low prices, interesting bargains, easy access, but also appealing store design, and excellent service.

How Consumer Behavior in Daily Food Provisioning Affects Food Waste at Household Level in The Netherlands.

Food production and consumption have remarkable negative environmental effects, in particular food waste. Food waste occurs throughout the entire food system, but households make the largest contribution. Reducing unnecessary waste of food represents a crucial step toward overcoming global issues of food waste, hunger, and climate change. Identifying barriers in reducing food waste is important not only to government and policymakers, but also to food producers, retailers, and marketers. Therefore, the objective of this research was to find out how consumer behavior in daily food provisioning affects food waste. An online survey was set up to question Dutch consumers (partly) in charge of the household's food management. A total of 211 consumers participated in answering questions on household composition, food management behavior (e.g., food purchase planning) and food waste awareness (i.e., concern about wasting food and intention not to waste food). Results show that purchase behavior in-store was the main driver of food waste. Specifically, participants indicated that buying more food than needed often had led to food waste. In addition, intention not to waste food acted as a moderator in the relationship between planning behavior and food waste. Age appears to have a diminishing impact on wasting food.