The emergence of meal delivery applications: a research agenda to advance the next decade of progress in nutrition

Abstract

The United Nations Decade of Nutrition was declared on 1 April 2016 to accelerate action to achieve global nutrition and diet-related non-communicable disease targets by 2025. Meal delivery applications offering takeaway meals and ready-to-eat foods from restaurant kitchen to doorstep via a third-party courier, have proliferated as a new digital dimension to traditional food environments. These digital platforms threaten to disrupt progress towards creating a health-enabling food environment. This article outlines the emergence of the digital food environment—its dimensions, actors and target users, and critically appraises the research on the public health impact of meal delivery applications to-date. We propose a research agenda to measure, monitor and mitigate the risks which meal delivery applications pose to population health and wellbeing, which may impact the United Nation’s Decade of Action on Nutrition. The rapidly evolving digital era of new technologies and innovation presents a unique window of opportunity for public health research and policy.