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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
editorial
. 2016 Jan 1;107(Suppl 1):eS64–eS67. doi: 10.17269/CJPH.107.5343

Policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions

Catherine L Mah 111,211,✉, Brian Cook 311, Karen Rideout 411, Leia M Minaker 511
PMCID: PMC6972314  PMID: 27281519

Abstract

Public policy is central to health promotion: it determines the distribution of resources in a society and establishes the structural context for the actions of both corporations and consumers. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to begin a discussion on promising policy options for a health-promoting retail food environment. Drawing on specific municipal examples, we examine four groups of policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions: planning for health; transforming consumer environments; economic and fiscal instruments; and a culture of transparency and participation. We introduce examples of policy options that are receiving increasing attention in the public health and urban planning literature and that function at the municipal level. We also highlight how public health professionals have an important role to play in policy that shapes retail food environments, especially in making explicit the linkages between health and other policy goals. In doing so, this commentary aims to motivate public health practitioners in a variety of community contexts to consider the policy supports they need to advance their exploration, development, testing and evaluation of interventions for healthier retail food environments.

Key words: Policy, social planning, environment and public health, food supply

Footnotes

Acknowledgements: Parts of this commentary were previously prepared in a report for the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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