Abstract
M.A
The food service industry in South Africa and worldwide is faced with a two-edged trend. On one hand, the trend reflects a positive and consistent growth of the industry due to increase in out-of-home meal consumption while, on the other hand, the industry is faced with an increasing demand for healthy meal alternatives. At a global level, the food service industry faces challenges due the perceived poor diet quality said to be contributing to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases that are related to diet, particularly overweight and obesity.
As individuals continue to experience shortage of time to prepare meals from home, it is expected that they will rely on meals consumed out-of-home, which can affect their health and increase their chances of becoming overweight or obese. These are issues that the study intended to address. The main objective of the study was to explore and determine the measures that the food service industry has put in place to aid in combating obesity.
A quantitative approach was adopted, wherein self-administered questionnaires were distributed. The study found that there are indeed some efforts from the food service industry to assist in alleviating the incidences of obesity. The main findings revealed that respondents agreed with the notion that restaurant menus do offer meals that are healthy and contain minimum fat. It was found that there is an association between how the food service industry has adapted to consumer eating habits (demand for healthy meals) and availability of healthy meal options on the menu. This may be viewed as an effort towards alleviating obesity, because of the availability of healthy items on menus.
The findings of this research can assist the food service industry to be mindful of the need and demand for healthier meals, and the importance of incorporating such meals in menu offerings. There are also policy implications of relevant policies and laws that can encourage or incentivise the food service industry to ensure that public health concerns (prevalence of obesity) are considered by all restaurants. Finally, the study recommends that more effort be made to serve healthier meal items in restaurants.