Food commercialization in the Sao Paulo subway stations from the perspective of Food and Nutrition Security

Author(s)

Jessica Vaz Franco

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP/CIR)
• Defense date: 2018-08-24

Examining board members

Claudia Maria Bógus; Daniela Silva Canella; Ana Paula Bortoletto Martins; Fernanda Baeza Scagliusi

• Advisor: Claudia Maria Bógus

Abstract

The rhythm of urban life, given by the production process, invades the social life and ends up imposing to the metropolitan citizens some consumption behaviors. Regarding to the standardization of food consumption, it is noted that meals are increasingly frequent outside home, which contributes to the persistence of threats to the reach of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS), due to the high intake of unhealthy food. Objective: Characterize the food environment inside the subway stations of the city of Sao Paulo, in the point of view of FNS, including the food commercialization and the installation of food stores. Methods: This study was done in 19 stations distributed in the five existing subway lines administered exclusively by the State of Sao Paulo. In the stations where food was commercialized, an instrument was used to characterize: the stores; the availability of information for the customers and how this information is displayed; the availability of healthy and unhealthy food markers; the prices, sales promotions and advertisements of the commercialized food. In order to understand the policies, norms and regulation to the installation of these stores, a document search was done with the help of a script and, later, an individual semi-structured interview was made with the Business Department Chief of Metro. Thus, a descriptive analysis of the food commercialization was made in relation to the collected variables, also the relative and absolute frequencies, mean and median were calculated with the aid of the SPSS program (IBM, New York, USA). The documents for the installation of a set were arranged in text form in Word (Microsoft Word 2010) and in spreadsheets in Excel properly identified to be understood and analyzed according to the proposed items of the script. The transcribed interview was useful to complement the information obtained by the documental analysis, starting from the theoretical reference of the FNS. Results: It was noticed that there was a low availability of healthy foods in relation to unhealthy foods at the stores found, and those who sold healthy foods presented them with little variety and at prices not so competitive in relation of unhealthy foods. In addition to that, the presence of marketing strategies for unhealthy food and beverages and the concealment of nutritional information were also factors considered as an incentive for an unhealthy and not adequate food consumption. In the description of the Metro\'s documents, the Municipal Health Surveillance Register is the only \"quality assurance\" of the foods in the stores and the aspects of FNS are not mentioned for the commercialization of food in the stations. Final considerations: This investigation may arouse the interest of the public power in the formulation of interventions, public policies and regulation, which consider the human right to adequate food as a central objective, applied in this context. Since it is an equipment that provides services to the population, where millions of people circulate every day, and the existence of policies, actions and strategies in Brazil and in the city of Sao Paulo that seek for the guarantee of FNS, it should promote healthy environments for its users. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/03313-8 - Food availability and sales in the São Paulo Metropolitan transportation network from the perspective of food security
• Grantee: Jessica Vaz Franco
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master