Introduction
The local food environment plays an important role in food purchasing behaviours but changes to shopping practices in recent years have seen increases in online food shopping. Both Coles and Woolworths have a substantial online shopping presence, and this presence extends to foods promoted as lunchbox foods. Both websites have a ‘tab’ containing items promoted as lunchbox foods, so this study aimed to explore the types of foods promoted as lunchbox foods and the packaging used for these foods.
Methods
An audit of the two major supermarket chain websites in Australia was conducted over a two-week period in August 2022. The ‘lunchbox tab’ was opened and screen shots of all items were taken. Items were coded according to the type of food (fruit, vegetable, dairy, sweet or savoury snack, or grains/cereals), whether the items was packaged or unpackaged and the processing classification according to the NOVA criteria. Descriptive statistics were calculated.
Results
In total, there were 859 items included in the lunchbox tab on both websites combined. Of those, 838 (98%) were packaged and 670 (78%) were classified as ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Sweet and savoury snack foods comprised over 40% of items in the lunchbox tabs and approximately 30% of the items were dairy foods. Less than one-third of items were grains and cereals, and fruits and vegetables made up less than 5% of items.
Conclusions
Foods promoted as lunchbox foods in the online food environment are overwhelmingly packaged and ultra-processed. Working with supermarkets to utilise their websites for the promotion of foods that are less packaged and less processed is an important step to improving the local food environment.