Competition among food stores in remote communities may be a barrier to reducing the sales of unhealthy foods.
The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation this week released the results of a trial they conducted in partnership with Monash University to reduce the sale of unhealthy foods and promote healthier options.
The Healthy Stores 2020 trial involved moving unhealthy foods from high traffic areas, such as the checkout, to low traffic parts of the store and moved healthy options to the high traffic areas.
Another move involved removing sugary drinks from the fridge and leaving them on the shelves at room temperature.
The trial saw a 6.8 per cent reduction in free sugars purchased from sugar sweetened drinks and a 7.5 per cent reduction for confectionary.
The study resulted in 10.1 per cent increase in the weight sold of healthier drinks and saw a reduction of 1.8 tonnes in sugar sold overall.
ALPA Nutritionist Khia De Silva says while the results are great, it was found that in communities where there was another store not involved in the trial, customers went there.
