ABSTRACT
The increase in availability of online on-demand food and alcohol delivery services has changed the way unhealthy commodities are accessed and understood. We conducted a systematic scoping review of academic and grey literature to map the current knowledge of public health and regulatory/policy outcomes arising from on-demand food and alcohol delivery (defined as delivery within 2 h). We systematically searched three electronic databases and completed supplementary forward citation searches and Google Scholar searches. In total, we screened 761 records (de-duplicated) and synthesised findings from 40 studies by commodity types (on-demand food or alcohol) and outcome focus (outlet, consumer, environmental, labour). Outlet-focused outcomes were most common (n = 16 studies), followed by consumer (n = 11), environmental (n = 7), and labour-focused (n = 6) outcomes. Despite geographical and methodological diversity of studies, results indicate that on-demand delivery services market unhealthy and discretionary foods, with disadvantaged communities having reduced access to healthy commodities. Services that deliver alcohol on-demand can also subvert current alcohol access restrictions, particularly through poor age verification processes. Underpinning these public health impacts is the multi-layered nature of on-demand services and context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which creates ongoing complications as to how populations access food and alcohol. Changing access to unhealthy commodities is an emerging issue in public health. Our scoping review considers priority areas for future research to better inform policy decisions. Current regulation of food and alcohol may not appropriately cover emerging on-demand technologies, necessitating a review of policy.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the geographical location and characteristics of on-demand delivery services operating in New Zealand. METHODS: We systematically searched the web and application (app) stores for on-demand services offering rapid delivery of food, alcohol, cigarettes or vaping products in New Zealand and mapped their geographic location as of May 2021. Using desktop review, data on service characteristics were collected and stratified including: types of commodities available, promotion strategies, and the legal aspects of access to age-restricted items. RESULTS: On-demand services for food, alcohol and nicotine products operate across urban and rural New Zealand. All services offered personal memberships and 97% used promotions. All services offering restricted items had an age verification process, however, only 87% had birth date entry and 73% had an 18+ message pop-up on website entry. Only 60% of services appeared to have number limits on restricted items. CONCLUSIONS: Much of New Zealand is serviced by on-demand delivery services. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: The trend towards on-demand delivery services may increase unhealthy food, alcohol and nicotine-related harms and it undermines current government actions, e.g. the Smokefree 2025 goal. This research informs policy to reduce the future health burden.