The Healthy Food Environment Policy Index in Poland: Implementation Gaps and Actions for Improvement
Piotr Romaniuk,
Krzysztof Kaczmarek,
Katarzyna Brukało,
Elżbieta Grochowska-Niedworok,
Karolina Łobczowska,
Anna Banik,
Aleksandra Luszczynska,
Maartje Poelman,
Janas M. Harrington,
Stefanie Vandevijvere,
on behalf of the PEN Consortium
Affiliations
Piotr Romaniuk
Department of Health Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska Street 18, 41-902 Bytom, Poland
Krzysztof Kaczmarek
Department of Health Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska Street 18, 41-902 Bytom, Poland
Katarzyna Brukało
Department of Health Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Piekarska Street 18, 41-902 Bytom, Poland
Elżbieta Grochowska-Niedworok
Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Jordana Street 19, 41-808 Zabrze, Poland
Karolina Łobczowska
Department of Psychology in Wroclaw, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ostrowskiego Street 30b, 53-238 Wroclaw, Poland
Anna Banik
Department of Psychology in Wroclaw, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ostrowskiego Street 30b, 53-238 Wroclaw, Poland
Aleksandra Luszczynska
Department of Psychology in Wroclaw, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ostrowskiego Street 30b, 53-238 Wroclaw, Poland
Maartje Poelman
Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands
Janas M. Harrington
School of Public Health, University College Cork, T12 XF62 Cork City, Ireland
Stefanie Vandevijvere
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Background: Poland is facing the growing problem of overweight and obesity in the population, which makes it necessary to conduct a thorough assessment of the existing food environment policies. The aims of the study were: (1) to depict the strength of healthy food environment policies in Poland and identify implementation policies and infrastructure support gaps; (2) to identify and prioritise improvement policies, taking into account their importance, achievability and equity. Methods: We used the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI). An experts’ panel rated Polish policies and infrastructure compared to international best practices and developed a list of recommended improvement actions addressing both components. Results: eight of the twenty-two policy and four of the twenty-two infrastructure indicators achieved the “no/very weak policy” result. Another four policy and five infrastructure indicators were considered “weak”. Another seven and eight indicators, respectively, were assessed as “moderate”. Among the identified actions, the highest priority was given to a food labelling system and training for persons involved in nutrition in schools. Conclusions: The Polish healthy food environment has been assessed as very weak or weak in most aspects. The infrastructure was assessed as slightly better compared to the policies domain, with more indicators receiving the “moderate” score.
