Nutritional Composition and Purchasing Patterns of Supermarket Prepared Foods Over Time

Introduction: Prepared (ready-to-eat) foods are sold in >90% of U.S. supermarkets, but little is known about their nutritional quality. This study examined trends in purchases of supermarket pre-pared foods and compared their nutritional profile with that of supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods.Methods: Nutrition data were obtained on prepared foods sold from 2015 to 2019 in 2 supermar-ket chains (-1,200 stores). One chain (193 stores) provided transaction-level sales data from 2015 to 2017. Analyses (conducted in 2021-2022) examined trends in the number of different prepared foods offered by the chains and trends in purchases of calories, total sugar, saturated fat, and sodium from prepared foods. Calorie and nutrient densities (i.e., per 100 g of food) and prevalence of being high in calories or nutrients (on the basis of Chilean standards) were analyzed among supermarket prepared foods, supermarket packaged foods, and restaurant foods consumed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2015-2018.Results: The number of different prepared foods offered at supermarket chains increased from 1,930 in 2015 to 4,113 in 2019. Calories per transaction purchased from supermarket prepared foods increased by 1.0 calories/month (95% CI=0.8, 1.1), a -3% annual increase, with similar trends for other nutrients. At supermarkets, >90% of prepared bakery and deli items and 61% of prepared entrees/sides were high in cal-ories or another nutrient of concern, similar to supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods.Conclusions: Supply of and demand for supermarket prepared foods have grown substantially over time. These trends are concerning given these foods' overall poor nutritional quality. Am J Prev Med 2023;64(2):213-220.(c) 2022 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study examines trends in purchases of supermarket prepared foods and compares their nutritional profile with that of supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods. The findings show that the variety and purchases of supermarket prepared foods have increased over the past years, but their overall nutritional quality is poor.