Unhealthy Food at Your Fingertips: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Nutritional Quality of Restaurants and Takeaway Outlets on an Online Food Delivery Platform in New Zealand

Abstract

Online food delivery (OFD) platforms have become increasingly popular due to advanced technology, which is changing the way consumers purchase food prepared outside of the home. There is limited research investigating the healthiness of the digital food environment and its influence on consumer choice and dietary behaviours. This study is the first to examine the nutritional quality and marketing attributes of menu items from popular independent and franchise restaurants and takeaway outlets on New Zealand’s market leading OFD platform (UberEATS®). A total of 374 popular independent and franchise restaurants and takeaway outlets were identified to form a database of complete menus and marketing attributes. All 25,877 menu items were classified into 38 food and beverage categories based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Of complete menus, 73.3% (18,955/25,877) were discretionary. Thirty-six percent (9419/25,877) were discretionary cereal-based mixed meals, the largest of the 38 categories. Discretionary menu items were more likely to be categorized as most popular (OR: 2.0, 95% CI 1.7–2.2), accompanied by a photo (OR: 1.7, 95% CI 1.6–1.8), and offered as a value bundle (OR: 4.6, 95% CI 3.2–6.8). Two of the three discretionary mixed meal categories were significantly less expensive than their healthier counterparts (p < 0.001). The overwhelming availability and promotion of discretionary choices offered by restaurants and takeaway outlets on OFD platforms have implications for public health policy. Further research to explore direct associations between nutritional quality and consumers’ dietary choices is required.

Availability of calorie information on online menus from chain restaurants in the USA: current prevalence and legal landscape

“…The lack of compliance with labelling laws in the online restaurant food environment is consistent with previous findings of inconsistent nutrition labelling of online grocery products (24,35) , lack of compliance with local nutrition-related laws among US restaurant chains posting menus online (36,37) and availability of nutritional information for only 20 % of menu items from major restaurant chains on Uber Eats in New Zealand (38) .…”

Using Mobile Ecological Momentary Assessment to Understand Consumption and Context Around Online Food Delivery Use: Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study

“…These findings also align with the annual report from Uber Eats Australia [ 49 ], which indicated that chicken burgers and chicken burritos were in the top 10 most popular orders list from local small businesses. Altogether, this provides preliminary evidence that most foods ordered by OFD services are not healthy and supplements previous studies that have analyzed online menu items and showed that a high proportion of offerings are poor in nutritional quality [ 13 - 15 , 50 ].…”

“…Of the 25 most popular menu items, 23 exceeded the recommended sodium intake for adults, and 80% of all sweet items offered were 1.5 times above the recommended daily intake for sugar [ 13 ]. Similarly, more than three-quarters of menu items were classified as discretionary “junk foods” in Australia [ 14 ] and New Zealand [ 15 ]. A cross-sectional study conducted in 3 international cities (Chicago, Melbourne, and Amsterdam) revealed “burgers,” “pizza,” and “Italian” were in the top 10 most advertised meals on the website or app of the OFD [ 16 ].…”

Characteristics of food establishments registered with a meal delivery app in Latin America

“…The user can also access a list of the most popular or nearest establishments and choose their meal by the terms that characterise each establishment. Marketing strategies, such as illustrative photos and advertisements of meals with discounts or without delivery charges, are frequent in MDA (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) and improve the user experience on the platform and influence the user's decision to purchase (2) . Due to the characteristics of convenience and practicality, the use of MDA has grown.…”

“…The frequent use of MDA is critical from a public health perspective due to the widespread promotional supply of foods and meals of poor nutritional quality (14) . This evidence comes primarily from developed countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and the Netherlands (5,7,(15)(16)(17) , and such evidence from undeveloped or developing countries is scarce. In LA, for example, data on food offerings on MDA are available from only one city in Brazil, with approximately 70 % of online menus advertising sandwiches, fried snacks and pizza.…”