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Description, measurement and evaluation of tertiary-education food environments

Equity Focus

This study targets the analysis of the food environment at universities and further education institutions in Australia by examining campus food service outlets in terms of their availability, accessibility and promotion of food and beverages.

Case Summary

In this project a food environmental audit survey, 252 outlets were audited across seven institutions: three universities and four technical and further education institutions campuses. A scoring instrument called the food environment-quality index was developed and used to assess all food outlets on these campuses. Information was collated on the availability, accessibility and promotion of foods and beverages and a composite score (maximum score=148; higher score indicates healthier outlets) was calculated. Each outlet and the overall campus were ranked into tertiles based on their 'healthiness'. Overall, the most frequently available items were sugar-sweetened beverages (20 % of all food/drink items) followed by chocolates (12 %), high-energy (>600 kJ/serve) foods (10 %), chips (10 %) and confectionery (10 %). Healthy food and beverages were observed to be less available, accessible and promoted than unhealthy options.

Lessons Learned

• Tertiary-education food environments are dominated by high-energy, -poor foods and beverages. Interventions to decrease availability, accessibility and promotion of unhealthy foods are needed.
  

LINK TO CASE STUDY