Guidance Framework to Support Healthier Food Retail Environments for Children: A practical tool for nutrition and children’s rights in the food retail sector (UNICEF)

Globally, child malnutrition in all its forms – including childhood overweight and obesity – is largely driven by the poor quality of children’s diets. At the center, is a broken food system that fails to provide children with the nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diets they need to survive and thrive.

Governments remain the primary duty-bearers of children’s right to adequate food and nutrition and must prioritize regulatory action to create healthier food environments for every child. Simultaneously, food industry businesses are responsible for respecting, promoting and fulfilling this right – and doing no harm through their practices, services and products.

As such, UNICEF came together with Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) and Deakin University to articulate how the food retail sector can contribute to protecting children’s right to nutritious foods, healthy food environments and food practices.

The core of this partnership is the resource featured on this page – Guidance Framework to Support Healthier Food Retail Environments for Children – a practical tool for improving nutrition and children’s rights in the food retail sector.

Additional accompanying materials to this report include:

• Network on Children’s Rights and Nutrition in the Food Retail Sector –  Summary Report (2021-2023)
• Evidence Review of Food Retailer Actions to Support Healthier Supermarket Food Environments for Children.