Sixty Percent of Foods Advertised in Grocery Store Flyers are Not In-line with Canada’s Food Guide

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate foods advertised in discount and premium grocery flyers for their alignment with Canada’s 2007 Food Guide (CFG) and assess if alignment differed by food category, season, page location, and price. Methods: Weekly flyers (n = 192) were collected from discount and premium grocery chains from each of 4 seasons. Health Canada’s Surveillance Tool was used to assess food items as in-line or not in-line with CFG. Results: Of 35 576 food items, 39.7% were in-line with CFG. There were no differences in proportions of foods not in-line in discount versus premium flyers (60.9% and 60.0%, respectively). Other Foods and Meat & Alternatives were advertised most (28.0% and 26.3%, respectively; P < 0.001). Milk & Alternatives were the least advertised food group (10.3%). Vegetables & Fruit (19.6%), Grains (21.6%), Milk & Alternatives (20.6%), and Meat & Alternatives (20.2%) were promoted least in Fall (P < 0.001). A higher proportion of foods advertised on middle pages were not in-line (61.0%) compared with front (56.6%) and back (58.8%) pages (P < 0.001). Not in-line foods were more expensive ($3.49, IQR = $2.82) than in-line foods ($3.28, IQR = $2.81; P < 0.001). Conclusions: While there was no difference in healthfulness of foods advertised in discount versus premium flyers, grocers advertised more foods not in-line with CFG. Government policies to improve the food environment should consider grocery flyers.