A new healthy eating campaign will be rolled out across IGA stores in the Bendigo area today to promote better food choices.
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Five IGA supermarkets in Bendigo will carry health promotion interventions as part of the campaign, along with another two in Geelong. A further seven supermarkets will also take part in the campaign as “control stores”, or stores without any interventions.
The seven stores will carry healthy eating messages in trolleys and baskets, on floors and at the end of aisles. Shelf tags that use the Health Star Rating system to highlight the healthiest items (those rated 4.5 or 5 stars), will also be featured throughout the stores.
Champions IGA chief executive Michael Zervakis said the main message was that eating healthy didn’t have to be expensive.
“What we’re trying to do with this program is say there is a cheap alternative – healthy foods aren’t as expensive as they used to be,” he said.
The Champions Supa IGAs in Long Gully and Kangaroo Flat have been involved in a year-long trial period and in this next phase, will receive more messaging, along with stores in Strath Village, Strathfieldsaye and Eaglehawk.
Mr Zervakis said the results from the trial period were better than expected.
“It’s done really well,” he said. “The products have certainly had a greater sales increase.”
The Eat Well @ IGA project is a joint effort between Deakin University, the City of Greater Bendigo, VicHealth and IGA. The project has also received a $550,000 grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Lead researcher Adrian Cameron from Deakin’s Global Obesity Centre said the program results in the stores would be monitored until March next year.
“We want to see if by running this kind of comprehensive intervention, we can make a big difference to how much healthy food is purchased over a sustained period,” he said.
“The great thing is everything we’re introducing is low-cost, scalable and feasible for the retailer, so if we get some positive results, we hope it will encourage IGA to continue and expand the program.”
City of Greater Bendigo mayor Margaret O’Rourke said it was a priority for the council to combat the region’s high obesity level and improving access to healthy and affordable food was important.