Evaluating the prevalence of high fat sugar salt (HFSS) products and labelling characteristics of foods sold in-store Restricted Areas: A survey in three UK supermarkets following the 2022 implementation of The Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulati

Regulations restricting promotion of some High Fat, Sugar, Salt (HFSS) products within “restricted areas” (RAs) (e.g. end of aisles) of eligible supermarket stores came into force in October 2022 in England. To evaluate the prevalence of HFSS products, Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) characteristics and categories of foods sold within RAs in a sample of supermarket stores, with respect to the Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations 2021. A cross-sectional survey of products in RAs in three supermarkets. Following the manual identification of each supermarket’s RAs, from November 2022-January 2023, these were photographed and the display of products and their Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) recorded. Products were identified using corresponding online supermarket webpages, from which data collected included product name, nutrition, and ingredients. This information was used to allocate each product to a category (e.g. ready meals) that was either in or out of scope of the Regulations. Evaluation of each product’s healthfulness was performed using the UK Nutrient Profiling Model (to determine HFSS status) and UK Multiple Traffic Light criteria to calculate number of inherent (i.e. possessed regardless of their display) Red Traffic Lights (iRTL). Prevalence of HFSS, FOPNL and iRTL were calculated as a proportion (%) of total products displayed in the included RAs. Associations between the prevalence of these characteristics were performed using chi-squared tests. Across the three stores, 86 RAs were identified, with data collected from 32 RAs displaying 679 food products, most of which fell into product categories considered out-of-scope of the Regulations (64%, n = 435). Across included RAs, the prevalence of HFSS products within all in and out-of-scope categories, was 42 % (n = 282). Half of all products (53%, n = 357) displayed FOPNL, and 16% possessed 1, 2 or 3 iRTL, including both HFSS and non-HFSS items. Across those product categories in-scope of the Regulations (n = 245), prevalence of HFSS was 17% (n = 42). These HFSS products were less likely to display FOPNL compared to non-HFSS products ( 2 = 25.01, p < 0.001). Following the implementation of The Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations, intended to create healthier food retail environments, products sold across Restricted Areas of three eligible supermarkets included those in categories in and out of scope of Regulations with varied prevalence of less-healthy (HFSS) products, display of FOPNL, and possession of iRTL across both. This study is a first researcher-led evaluation of the recently regulated consumer-facing instore environment, with implications for future policy impact evaluation.