Identifying online only delivery food outlets in the North of England using data from food delivery apps

Local authorities (local government) in England is responsible for promoting a healthy food environment. The food environment includes any opportunity to obtain food which includes physical and virtual environments. However, currently both local and national policy only regulates around restricting types of food available in the physical food environment Over the past decade there has been a substantial rise in the virtual food outlets where customers can only order food online using an app. This creates challenges for promoting a healthy food environment if policy on regulates the physical but not virtual environment. To support public health policy making this research explored prevalence of online only delivery kitchens in four Northern areas in England and if current data collection methods for monitoring the food environment can capture these outlets.

Data was collected using automated searches on food delivery websites for four areas in the North of England. Data from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Google were used for business registration details, location and validation. Prevalence of outlets adjusted by population size, premise type, Positive Predicted Value for comparing accuracy with the FSA data and Sensitivity were estimated.

Newcastle had 118 online only delivery food outlets or 15 per 100,000 people, Gateshead had 116 outlets or 59 per 100,000 people, Middlesbrough had 36 outlets or 9 per 100,000 people, and Lancaster had 107 outlets or 26 per 100,000 people. Approximately 40% were operating from existing business sites. PPV was 100% in all areas. Sensitivity was 15.9% in Newcastle upon Tyne, 17.4% in Gateshead,, 9.1% in Middlesborough, and 26.2% in Lancaster.

Current policy tools that manage the built environment do not consider the virtual food environment. This may limit their ability to promote a healthy food environment.