World’s largest supermarket chains, including Walmart, Edeka and Spar, doing little to help their customers eat healthy diets
New research being presented at this year’s International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026) being hosted by the World Obesity Federation in Mexico City, Mexico (15-17 July), reveals that few of the world’s 21 largest food retailers are taking significant voluntary action to create healthier food environments for children and families.
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Just two of the world’s largest 21 supermarket chains (Aldi Australia and Lidl Germany) have implemented the most impactful actions to create healthy food environments.
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Aldi Australia reported limiting price promotions for unhealthy food, and Lidl Germany reduced the price of healthier items to the same or lower than comparable less healthy items.
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No retailers voluntarily limited multibuy special offers or prominent in-store placement of less healthy foods, including at children’s eye level, end-of-aisle displays or checkouts.
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Authors say governments must take action to urgently introduce mandatory, legally binding standards for major supermarkets to address the global pandemic of obesity and other diet-related diseases.
Supermarket chains Walmart, Edeka, Woolworths, Aeon, and Spar are among the vast majority of retailers who need to take stronger and more effective actions to positively influence population diets.
“Supermarkets’ voluntary commitments to promote healthier and more equitable diets aren’t going far enough when it comes to public health goals,” said lead author Professor Adrian J. Cameron from Australia’s Deakin University Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition.
“When it’s clear that retailers won’t take significant action themselves, we need to see governments urgently introduce mandatory, legally binding standards for major supermarkets to address the global pandemic of obesity and other diet-related diseases.”
Growing concerns about “ultra” processed foods
The findings come among growing concerns about unhealthy “ultra” processed foods (UPFs) that have flooded supermarket shelves in recent years. These foods typically contain high amounts of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.
Research indicates that diets high in unhealthy UPFs contribute to serious health issues like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Unhealthy eating is the leading risk for death and disability globally, and one in five deaths - equivalent to 11 million deaths - are associated with poor diet every year1.
The retail food environment is an important driver of dietary choices and dietary quality
The retail food environment, both in-store and online, is an important driver of dietary choices and dietary quality. In recent years, supermarkets have introduced a range of voluntary initiatives and actions aimed at improving population diets. However, evidence suggests that these measures are often limited in impact and insufficient to drive meaningful and equitable dietary change at scale.
Assessing supermarket action
The researchers therefore set out to comprehensively assess the scope and impact potential of voluntary actions taken by the top three grocery retail chains (by 2025 market share, including discounters, hypermarkets and supermarkets that predominately sell a range of fresh foods) in seven world regions—Asia Pacific, Australasia, Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America and Western Europe (see table in notes to Editors).
They conducted an overarching (umbrella) review to identify potential actions that can improve the health and equity of grocery retailer food environments, building on those identified in the UNICEF Retail Guidance Framework2. Based on this, a matrix of 26 possible retailer actions was constructed, organised by marketing mix components (product, price, place, and promotion) and likely public health impact.
Researchers then systematically searched each grocery chain’s website (including annual reports, news stories, policies, and strategic documents from 2020 onwards) to calculate the percentage of retailers addressing each of the 26 possible actions identified in the review.
Voluntary initiatives
Overall, the researchers identified 83 instances of voluntary initiatives and actions to promote health being taken by retailers, ranging from one to 11 actions per retailer.
Highest-impact pricing actions
Of the three initiatives with the highest estimated public health impact, only Aldi Australia reported acting on limiting special offers for unhealthy food, and only Lidl Germany set the price of healthier items the same or lower than comparable less healthier items. No retailers appeared to limit multibuy promotions for unhealthy food.
Evidence-based healthy definition
Importantly, only four retailers (Coles Australasia, Woolworths Australasia, and Lidl in both Eastern and Western Europe) had adopted an evidence-based definition of ‘healthy’ based on national nutrition standards and/or guidelines and international evidence.
Healthier own-brand products
The most common voluntary actions taken by retailers was reformulation of own brand items to make them healthier (13 of 21 retailers including Aldi and Woolworths Australasia, Lidl and Kaufl Eastern Europe, and Lidl and Aldi Western Europe).
Front-of-pack nutrition labels
The introduction of front of pack nutrition labelling on own brand items (9 of 21 retailers, including Lidl, Aldi, and Edeka in Western Europe and Lidl, Biedronka, and Kaufland in Eastern Europe).
Product placement
Of the two actions that related to product placement, six retailers appeared to be more willing to feature healthier products in prominent positions in-store or online (Aldi Western Europe, Kroger North America, Lulu Middle East and Africa, Kaufland Eastern Europe, Coles and Woolworths in Australasia ). No retailers limited the prominent in-store placement of less healthy foods (e.g. unhealthy products at the eye and hand height of children, at checkouts, end-of-aisle displays and island bins).
“Large retailers are the gate keepers of what we eat and should be held accountable for the role they play in determining the health of the population,” said Professor Cameron.
“There has been some progress by a few supermarkets in some areas, but there is more that can and should be done to promote healthier choices. Areas of action with the most public health potential, such as limiting price and multibuy promotions of unhealthy foods, are rarely or never addressed. For these key areas, government action is required to drive the change required to address the global pandemic of diet-related disease.”
The researchers acknowledge some limitations to their findings. These include relying on publicly available information, meaning that some actions taken by retailers may have not been identified, and the use of translated evidence sources for companies publishing content in languages other than English.
With voluntary action from retailers proving limited and inconsistent, the researchers' call for mandatory, legally binding standards reflects a wider consensus that industry self-regulation alone cannot deliver the scale of change needed. World Obesity supports stronger government action to reshape retail food environments so that healthier choices are the easier, more affordable choice for everyone.
For interviews with the report authors from Deakin University, Geelong, Australia please contact Professor Adrain J. Cameron (who is in Mexico attending ICO) by WhatsApp on +61 402 086 294, or by email at E) adrian.cameron@deakin.edu.au
Alternative contact: Tony Kirby, ICO Media Office. T) +44 7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com
- Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 - The Lancet
- Guidance Framework.pdf
Table: Grocery retailers with the highest percentage of market share by region
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* The inclusion criteria was brands that predominantly sell fresh food (fruit, vegetables, protein, grains/starches). Where a brand did not meet this condition, the next eligible brand with the highest percentage of regional market share was selected.
^ Market share calculated using the total retail sales value for supermarkets, discounters and hypermarkets in each region. Some purchases are excluded from Euromonitor sales data (such as commercial/wholesale purchases and fuel/gasoline). Data adapted from Euromonitor Passport https://www.euromonitor.com/
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
This press release is based on a poster abstract at The International Congress on Obesity in Mexico City (July 15-17). All accepted abstracts have been extensively peer reviewed by the congress selection committee. There is no full paper at this stage, but the authors are happy to answer your questions
The press release is also available in Spanish, please click here.
Read the full abstract
The full abstract 'Voluntary actions by grocery retailers to promote health, and
equity: A critical global assessment' is available via the link below.