Food Environment Around Schools in a Capital City in Southern Brazil: Changes in the Availability of Commercial Food Establishments Between 2012 and 2019

Objective: The objective of this article was to perform a comparative analysis of the changes in the availability of commercial food establishments around the schools in a Brazilian capital city. Methods: This is a comparative analysis between two cross-sectional panels performed in 2012 and 2019 in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Secondary data from different sources were used. The location data of schools and establishments were georeferenced. For the analysis of the surroundings of schools, a network buffer of 800 m was considered. The establishments were classified based on the foods they primarily sold: fresh, mixed and ultra-processed foods. The chi-square and Wilcoxon tests were applied for the analyses, considering a significance level of 95% ( p < 0.05). Results: The number of food establishments around schools increased by 63%. There was a statistically significant growth in mixed ( p = 0.008) and ultra-processed ( p = 0.024) food- selling establishments. Conclusion: We conclude that the increase in establishments selling ultra-processed foods around schools at the expense of establishments selling fresh food deserves attention. This condition requires public policies that help promote healthier environments, thus contributing to the health of schoolchildren.