Better Kai: Helping us make healthy food choices

A small team from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences are the driving force behind Better Kai, an initiative that empowers our University community to make healthy food options the easy choice.

With takeaway foods accounting for a significant proportion of dietary intake among young adults (18–35 years), the team decided to put up ‘Better Kai’ labels on food items that helped people identify healthier food options.

The team conducted a study in two University food outlets which examined whether these simple labels on the food menus identifying healthier options would increase their sales and consumer’s awareness of these symbols.

The concept was designed and experimentally tested in 2019. The results from the study were published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2020 that provided evidence that the implementation of symbols resulted in increased sales of healthier foods over time.

“The Better Kai program hasn’t used specialised nutrition software for analysis; it is all very simple and transparent as we want staff and students, as well as retailers, to be able to select the healthier menu items themselves”, said Jessica Malloy – Student lead for the creation of Better Kai 2020. “It really can be as simple as seeing what in the cabinet has more veggies or brown instead of white bread/rice/pasta”, she added.

The present study provided evidence to University Commercial Services that this initiative could potentially be rolled out across multiple food outlets. The student dietitians then liaised with University retail outlets to determine which menu items in their food outlets could be labelled as ‘Better Kai’’. This took place over the second semester of 2020. The rollout has been underway over Semester One of 2021.

“The vast majority of retailers were in favour and happy to support the initiative. By the pure nature of their offerings, it is easier for some retailers to be involved than others”, said Mike Mead, Retail Operations Account Manager.

The initiative is still relatively new, but the team are hopeful there will be a good uptake of Better Kai throughout 2021. Once the ball is rolling, it will provide even more incentive for retailers to offer and promote these healthy choices.

This year’s student leads, Eliena Martin Moses and Tina Ho, both agree that bringing sustainability awareness into the packaging of the food from retailers is something that they are keen to push forward. Even though they have joined the project as part of their public health placements as student dietitians, they believe that nutrition should be viewed with a broader lens, i.e. how food interacts with us and the environment.

Find more information here on the initiative and a complete list of participating outlets and Better Kai options.

The Better Kai team welcome your comments and feedback. Should you wish to share your dining experience with them or have any questions about the initiative, please contact the team at retail@auckland.ac.nz.