Which companies dominate the packaged food supply of New Zealand and how healthy are their products?

Sally Mackay; Helen Eyles; Teresa Gontijo de Castro; Leanne Young; Cliona Ni Mhurchu; Boyd Swinburn

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245225

Which companies dominate the packaged food supply of New Zealand and how healthy are their products?

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 26;16(1):e0245225. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245225. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Sally Mackay¹, Helen Eyles^{1

2}, Teresa Gontijo de Castro¹, Leanne Young², Cliona Ni Mhurchu², Boyd Swinburn¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
² National Institute for Health Innovation, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Abstract

Improvement of national food supplies are an opportunity to improve a country's health. Our aim was to identify the major food companies manufacturing packaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages available in New Zealand supermarkets in 2018; to assess the healthiness of products using (1) the Health Star Rating (HSR) system, (2) Australian Dietary Guidelines classification (core/discretionary), and (3) by level of processing; to compare the healthiness of products displaying and not displaying the HSR and; to assess potential for food reformulation within selected food sub-categories. Information on packaged foods was obtained from the Nutritrack supermarket database. Companies that manufactured each food and brand were identified using company websites and the New Zealand companies register. In total, 13,506 packaged products were mapped to 1,767 brands and 1,214 companies. Based on market share of products available for sale (Euromonitor data), there were 22 dominating companies producing 31% of products and 17% of brands. Fifty-nine percent of products were classified as unhealthy (HSR <3.5/5 stars), 53% as discretionary, and 69% as ultra-processed. Products displaying the HSR on the package had a higher mean HSR ±SD than if the HSR was not displayed (3.2±1.3 versus 2.5±1.4, p = 0.000). Efforts to improve the healthiness of products should be directed to the 22 food companies dominating this market share, particularly in the core foods groups which are currently less likely to meet Heart Foundation reformulation targets (bread, breakfast cereals, cheese, canned baked beans, yoghurt). The New Zealand supermarket packaged food supply included in the Nutritrack database is dominated by a small number of companies and is mostly unhealthy. Government leadership is required to improve the healthiness of the packaged food supply and provide adequate information to consumers. This includes interventions setting reformulation targets for core food groups, setting population nutrient intake targets and mandating that the HSR is displayed on all products.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Databases, Factual
Food Industry
Food Quality*
Food Supply / statistics & numerical data*
Guidelines as Topic
New Zealand
Nutritive Value

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded Centre of Research Excellence in Reducing Salt Intake using Food Policy Interventions (APP1117300). The opinions, analysis and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the NHMRC. The Nutritrack data collections and database are funded by a Health Research Council of New Zealand programme grant (18/672. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.