Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App

Objectives: To evaluate the offer of children’s menus offered in fast food restaurants present in the Uber Eats delivery application through the Kids Menu Healthy Score ‘KIMEHS’ in Greater Santiago. Methods: Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional. Research in fast food restaurants present in th...

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Main Authors: Andrea Zapata-Quiroga, João P. M. Lima, Ada Rocha, Silvana Saavedra-Clarke, Samuel Durán-Agüero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Foods
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/3/434
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author Andrea Zapata-Quiroga
João P. M. Lima
Ada Rocha
Silvana Saavedra-Clarke
Samuel Durán-Agüero
author_facet Andrea Zapata-Quiroga
João P. M. Lima
Ada Rocha
Silvana Saavedra-Clarke
Samuel Durán-Agüero
author_sort Andrea Zapata-Quiroga
collection DOAJ
description Objectives: To evaluate the offer of children’s menus offered in fast food restaurants present in the Uber Eats delivery application through the Kids Menu Healthy Score ‘KIMEHS’ in Greater Santiago. Methods: Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional. Research in fast food restaurants present in the Uber Eats delivery app. A total of 858 restaurants were selected. The KIMEHS was used to assess menu quality. KIMEHS index and descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: 558 restaurants were evaluated through the app; 57 offered children’s menus, yielding 114 children’s menu options from 18 different municipalities. The common offer was based on fried and/or processed lean meat accompanied by French fries in 71%. Moreover, 99% of the menus assessed obtained the minimum score in the KIMEHS placing them in the ‘not healthy at all’ category. When associations were made between foods and the lowest KIMEHS score quartile, the presence of chips had the strongest association (OR; 40.36: CI95% 11.43–201.08). Conclusions: Most restaurants offer a children’s menu of low nutritional quality and poor balance, where their dishes are commonly based on fried and processed products, pointing to the urgent need for legislation on guidelines to be applied on the different actors influencing the food offered to children.
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spelling doaj-art-4f264ab6bc514fa1899c4bf99b9f54d82025-08-20T02:48:09ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-01-0114343410.3390/foods14030434Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery AppAndrea Zapata-Quiroga0João P. M. Lima1Ada Rocha2Silvana Saavedra-Clarke3Samuel Durán-Agüero4Clínica Red Salud, Santiago 8320000, ChileH&TRC—Health & Technology Research Center, Coimbra Health School, Polytechnic University of Coimbra, 3045-043 Coimbra, PortugalGreenUPorto—Sustainable Agrifood Production Research Centre, Inov4Agro, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, PortugalCarrera de Nutrición y Dietética, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Providencia 7500000, ChileEscuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de Salud, Sede los Leones, Universidad San Sebastian, Providencia 7500000, ChileObjectives: To evaluate the offer of children’s menus offered in fast food restaurants present in the Uber Eats delivery application through the Kids Menu Healthy Score ‘KIMEHS’ in Greater Santiago. Methods: Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional. Research in fast food restaurants present in the Uber Eats delivery app. A total of 858 restaurants were selected. The KIMEHS was used to assess menu quality. KIMEHS index and descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: 558 restaurants were evaluated through the app; 57 offered children’s menus, yielding 114 children’s menu options from 18 different municipalities. The common offer was based on fried and/or processed lean meat accompanied by French fries in 71%. Moreover, 99% of the menus assessed obtained the minimum score in the KIMEHS placing them in the ‘not healthy at all’ category. When associations were made between foods and the lowest KIMEHS score quartile, the presence of chips had the strongest association (OR; 40.36: CI95% 11.43–201.08). Conclusions: Most restaurants offer a children’s menu of low nutritional quality and poor balance, where their dishes are commonly based on fried and processed products, pointing to the urgent need for legislation on guidelines to be applied on the different actors influencing the food offered to children.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/3/434children’s menuobesityfood offerdigital delivery apps
spellingShingle Andrea Zapata-Quiroga
João P. M. Lima
Ada Rocha
Silvana Saavedra-Clarke
Samuel Durán-Agüero
Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
Foods
children’s menu
obesity
food offer
digital delivery apps
title Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
title_full Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
title_fullStr Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
title_full_unstemmed Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
title_short Children’s Menus at Fast Food Restaurants on the Uber Eats<sup>®</sup> Delivery App
title_sort children s menus at fast food restaurants on the uber eats sup r sup delivery app
topic children’s menu
obesity
food offer
digital delivery apps
url https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/3/434
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