Sustaining healthy food retail: do Australian and New Zealand government policies consider long-term change?

Healthy food retail policies are government instruments designed to encourage healthier food and drink purchases by regulating aspects of food retail settings that influence consumer purchasing behaviour. This study examined how national and jurisdictional healthy food retail policies in Australia and New Zealand conceptualise and address the long-term sustainment of healthy food retail practices. A purposive sample of government policies and accompanying materials (e.g., implementation guidelines) published or updated between 2014 and 2025, was obtained using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index documents and systematic searches of government websites. Policies were analysed thematically using a multi-theory coding framework informed by problematisation theory, the Integrated Sustainability Framework (factors influencing sustainment), and sustainment-explicit Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change strategies. Thirty-three “policy cases” (main policy documents and accompanying materials) were included. Most policies were designed for public food retail settings, with school and healthcare food outlets being the most common. Four key themes were constructed: (1) sustainment is explicitly framed as a formal process that acknowledges complexity; (2) sustainment is often problematised implicitly through ‘sustainment strategies’ (e.g., compliance monitoring); (3) acknowledging top-down responsibility for sustainment; and (4) retailer responsibilities and sustainment challenges are rarely made explicit. Australia and New Zealand's healthy food retail policies focus on top-down sustainment and primarily place responsibility on public institutions. Long-term changes may be better supported when policies consider a broader range of systemic factors (e.g., profitability of healthy food) and include elements that facilitate capacity-building and shared responsibility between key actors.