The retail environment is a place that influences many aspects of health, including both tobacco use behaviors and food and beverage purchasing and consumption. Tobacco retailers are often locked into promotional contracts with retailers that can dictate where products are displayed, the amount of advertising, as well as product prices and promotional incentives (more on this here). During this webinar we explore how similar agreements play out with food and beverages at the point of sale. Dr. Melissa Laska (Professor of Epidemiology & Community Health at the University of Minnesota), Dr. Heather D’Angelo (Assistant Scientist at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center) and Dr. Joel Gittelsohn (Professor in the Center for Human Nutrition and Global Obesity Prevention at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) give an overview of the food retail environment and present study findings from published food papers. Food retailer contracts/agreements, store-owner perspectives, and other relevant information as it relates to the presence of unhealthy food products in stores are discussed. View the webinar here or below:

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Studies referenced in the webinar:

• Ayala, G., D’Angelo, H., Gittelsohn, J., Horton, L., Ribisl, K., Sindberg, L., . . . Laska, M. (2017). Who is behind the stocking of energy-dense foods and beverages in small stores? The importance of food and beverage distributors. Public Health Nutrition, 20(18), 3333-3342. doi:10.1017/S1368980016003621
• Gittelsohn, J., Ayala, G.X.,  D’angelo, H.,  Kharmats, A., Ribisl, K.M. Schmidt Sindberg, L., Liverman, S.P. & Laska, M.N. (2018) Formal and informal agreements between small food stores and food and beverage suppliers: Store owner perspectives from four cities,Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 13:4, 517-530, DOI: 10.1080/19320248.2017.1403406
• N. Laska, Melissa & Schmidt Sindberg, Lesley & Ayala, Guadalupe & D’Angelo, Heather & Horton, Lucy & Ribisl, Kurt & Kharmats, Anna & Olson, Christina & Gittelsohn, Joel. (2018). Agreements between small food store retailers and their suppliers: Incentivizing unhealthy foods and beverages in four urban settings. Food Policy. 10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.03.001.