Food Products with the Child-Targeted Packaging in Food Stores around Primary Schools in Tehran, Iran

The local retail food environment around schools can have an important role in encouraging children to low-quality food choices; and may act as a potential risk factor in their diet. Thus, evaluating the food environment is essential for adopting policies and programs that support healthy nutrition in children. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and nutritional characteristics of packaged processed/ultra-processed food and beverage products with child-oriented marketing attributes in food stores around primary schools in Tehran, Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 239 food stores located within a 500-meter buffer around 64 primary schools in Tehran province. The presence of marketing strategies directed at children and nutrition information from traffic light labels of packaged foods available in these stores were extracted. Data were analyzed overall and separately for the subset of foods placed on front shelves at the entrance of stores. Among 445 discrete food products marketed to children via their packaging, 198 (44.49%) were placed on shelves in front of the stores entrance. Potato chips and bulky cereals group had the highest energy density (507.15 ± 44.05 Kcal/100gr). Due to the color code of traffic light labels, 100% of fruit juices had high levels of sugar. Of potato chips and bulky cereals, 89.38% were assigned a red color traffic light for total fat levels. Moreover, 62.50% of processed fruit and vegetables contained high levels of salt. The level of trans-fatty acids were not high in any of the food products. The high amount of sugar, salt, and fat in a remarkable proportion of food products marketed to children can be considered a risk factor for children's health. Initiation and implementation of appropriate policies to control the food environment around schools in Iran is recommended.