Prioritising Indicators for Large-scale Monitoring and Assessment of Food Environments for Public Health

This study aimed to prioritise key indicators for monitoring and assessing the healthiness of food environments, including at the country level. We conducted a literature review and engaged a consortium of researchers from the International Network for Food environments Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) as part of a prioritisation process. We identified 375 existing indicators that had been used to measure food environments. Researchers were consulted on priorities and implementation considerations through a series of interviews, focus groups and an online survey. Sixteen indicators were short-listed for prioritisation, and five indicators were identified as key priorities: proportion of packaged food and drinks products classified as unhealthy; frequency of exposure to unhealthy food promotion; price of a healthy diet and the price of the current diet as a proportion of income; proportion of schools in which unhealthy foods are provided or available for sale regularly; and application of back of package and front of package food labelling. This study lays the groundwork for standardised and scalable food environment monitoring that can drive policy action to support healthier food environments globally. Future areas for inquiry include tools to classify healthy foods and outlets, which could be adapted across policy areas, and the establishment of evidence-informed benchmarks for assessment of each indicator.

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Publication Details

Journal
Current Obesity Reports
Published
2026-04-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-026-00705-8
Primary Topic
Food Safety and Hygiene
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Prioritising Indicators for Large-scale Monitoring and Assessment of Food Environments for Public Health

Christiam Méndez-Lazarte, Guanlan Hu, Sally Schultz, Emma Jane Boyland et al.
Current Obesity Reports
Food Safety and Hygiene
article

Prioritising Indicators for Large-scale Monitoring and Assessment of Food Environments for Public Health

Christiam Méndez-Lazarte, Guanlan Hu, Sally Schultz, Emma Jane Boyland, Marie A. Bragg, Kelly Garton, Carolina Batis, Sally Mackay, Tailane Scapin, Luciana Castronuovo, Erica Reeve, Caroline Vaillancourt, Mavra Ahmed, Christina M. Pollard, Suzanne Soares‐Wynter, Rina Swart, Alexandra Jones, Lana Vanderlee, Elizabeth K. Dunford, Boyd Swinburn, Bridget Kelly, Amos Laar, Clara Gómez-Donoso, Gary Sacks, Kathryn Backholer, Meron Lewis, Adrian J. Cameron
article en

Abstract

This study aimed to prioritise key indicators for monitoring and assessing the healthiness of food environments, including at the country level. We conducted a literature review and engaged a consortium of researchers from the International Network for Food environments Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) as part of a prioritisation process. We identified 375 existing indicators that had been used to measure food environments. Researchers were consulted on priorities and implementation considerations through a series of interviews, focus groups and an online survey. Sixteen indicators were short-listed for prioritisation, and five indicators were identified as key priorities: proportion of packaged food and drinks products classified as unhealthy; frequency of exposure to unhealthy food promotion; price of a healthy diet and the price of the current diet as a proportion of income; proportion of schools in which unhealthy foods are provided or available for sale regularly; and application of back of package and front of package food labelling. This study lays the groundwork for standardised and scalable food environment monitoring that can drive policy action to support healthier food environments globally. Future areas for inquiry include tools to classify healthy foods and outlets, which could be adapted across policy areas, and the establishment of evidence-informed benchmarks for assessment of each indicator.

Current Obesity ReportsVol. 15(1)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), University of the West Indies System (JM), University of Ghana (GH), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (ES), University of Liverpool (GB), Deakin University (AU), University of Auckland (NZ), The University of Queensland (AU), Universidad de Lima (PE), University of Wollongong (AU), Curtin University (AU), Universidad Científica del Sur (PE), Universidad Abierta Interamericana (AR), The George Institute for Global Health (AU), Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (MX), University of the West Indies (JM), Data & Society Research Institute (US), Department of Health (ZA), The Wilson Centre (CA), Université Laval (CA), New York University (US), Columbia University (US), University of the Western Cape (ZA)
Deakin University
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Food Safety and Hygiene
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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