Monash University and project partners acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians
of the land as First Australians, and we pay respect to the Elders past, present and emerging.
*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website
may contain images and voices of people who may have died.
Healthy Stores 2020 celebrates a partnership between the food industry and the research community to show a pathway for the food retail sector to support better health outcomes for communities. How food is made available and promoted in food retail settings impacts what consumers purchase. Foods high in sugar, fat and/or salt are often promoted by retailers to stimulate sales. To combat the high burden of chronic disease and associated conditions confronting society, Healthy Stores 2020 aimed to halt the promotion of these foods by restricting their merchandising.
In 2018, with funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Monash University partnered with The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA) and a group of world experts in healthy food retail research from a number of universities in Australia and Canada to conduct the Healthy Stores 2020 study, a randomised controlled trial.
Healthy Stores 2020 demonstrated that restricting merchandising of unhealthy foods can achieve both public health relevant and business relevant gains.
For the one health of people and the planet, we urge the food retail sector to follow the leadership of ALPA and remote community store owners to restrict the merchandising of unhealthy food and drinks and enable consumers to more easily choose the healthier options.
Healthy Stores 2020 was funded by an NHMRC project grant (1138629). This research is also linked to an NHMRC-funded Center of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health (APP1152968). The information and opinions contained in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the supporting organizations.
We acknowledge and pay respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that contributed to this research.