Providing incentives to influence consumer food choices in a remote Aboriginal community store

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities experience significant health disadvantage and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Far North Queensland are classified as areas of 'most disadvantage'. In the 2012 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, Indigenous Australians living in remote areas reported eating less fruit and vegetables than any other group. The cost of fruit and vegetables in very remote Queensland communities is shown to be up to 38.2% higher than urban centres. It has been demonstrated that food choices under budget constraints are driven by maximising energy value for money, resulting in the purchase of energy dense, nutrient poor foods such as bread, flour and white rice. Nutrition efforts to address poor diet quality in remote Indigenous communities have focused in recent years on improving the availability and quality of healthy foods, promoting nutrition in stores and most recently investigating the effects of price discounting healthy foods