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What happens to vegetarian ready-meal sales when a frozen ready meal retailer increases the proportion of vegetarian ready-meals visible to customers?

The effect of a relative availability intervention on the sale of vegetarian ready meals in a frozen ready meal retailer

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ISRCTN
Registry ID
ISRCTN73493471
Enrollment
5
Registered
2024-08-12
Start date
2024-02-26
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2024-08-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Increasing the uptake of healthy and sustainable diets and reducing the environmental impacts of the food system. Not Applicable

Interventions

The intervention involves increasing the proportion of freezer facings of frozen vegetarian ready-meals in five COOK stores between 29 July and 8 September 2024 (6 weeks). COOK is a frozen ready-meal

Sponsors

University of Oxford
Lead Sponsor

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. COOK stores stocking the Chef’s Wall ready-meals range. 2. Have at least 18 freezers. 3. Vegetarian meals currently comprise at least 20% of the Chef’s wall ready meals. 4. The freezer space required to increase vegetarian facing in the Chef’s wall range to at least 44%.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Stores outside of England 2. Stores that have less than 18 freezers

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Units sold of vegetarian ready meals out of total ready meals sales (i.e. meat-based and vegetarian) will be measured using sales data collected pre-intervention (four weeks), during the intervention period (six weeks) and post-intervention (four weeks). Sales data will be obtained from electronic point-of-sale tills.

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
The following secondary outcome measures will be measured using the collection of the vegetarian product names, the units sold, their sales revenue (£), the ingredient list and the nutritional composition of the products before, during, and after the intervention. These data will be used for secondary analyses assessing the longer-term time trends in the outcome measures: 1. Units sold and £ revenue will be measured using sales data of all ready meals (vegetarian and meat-based). 2. The nutritional quality of ready meals will be measured using nutritional information provided by the retailer on the following nutrients: Kcal, total fat (unsaturated and saturated), sugar, fibre, protein, carbohydrates, and salt. 3. The nutritional profile of foods purchased will be measured by analysing the proportion of products purchased that pass or fail the UK Nutrient Profile Model (UK NPM). 4. The environmental impact of meals sold will be estimated by calculating four environmental indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, scarcity-weighted water stress, land use and eutrophication) using a method established by Clark et al. (Clark, 2022). 5. The health impact of increasing relative vegetarian meal availability on the morbidity and mortality of the UK population will be assessed using an established proportional multistate life table model, the PRIMEtime model. 6. The cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted by analysing the additional costs and/or savings and any revenue losses or gains associated with increasing the availability of vegetarian meals.

Countries

England, United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactJosephine Gondwe
josephine.gondwe@phc.ox.ac.uk+44 (0)1865 289325

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026