KIRSTIN BERNABE (ABU DHABI)

Abu Dhabi expat Marija Todić and her husband used to grab an energy drink and a chocolate-coated wafer bar during grocery runs. But not anymore, since they can no longer find them at the checkout counter.

"I noticed the change and I wondered what was going on," Todić told Aletihad. It was a welcome surprise, though, because for a mum who prefers to cook from scratch, those items weren't on her grocery list to begin with.

Abu Dhabi is making changes to the everyday shopping environment to make healthier choices easier, through a new policy on responsible food and beverage placement covering supermarkets and their online platforms.

From January 1, 2027, Abu Dhabi's supermarkets larger than 4,000 sqft will be required to keep unhealthy food and beverage products away from prominent, high-traffic areas, including entrances, end-of-aisle displays and checkout counters. Online, the requirements extend to prominent locations including homepages, search results, promotional pop-ups, and checkout pages.

The policy has been introduced by the Abu Dhabi Registration Authority (ADRA), the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development’s (ADDED) arm for regulating and developing the business sector in the emirate, in collaboration with Healthy Living under the Department of Health (DoH).

It forms part of Healthy Living’s wider work to bring together government, the private sector and communities to make healthier choices easier and more accessible in everyday life.

Retailers are now working toward implementation, with Carrefour among the first to complete the rollout across its Abu Dhabi outlets ahead of the compliance deadline.

The approach reflects a simple principle: the choices people make are influenced by the environment around them.

"What we buy is not driven by intention or willpower alone. What we see first, what is placed at eye level, what we encounter at the checkout, and what is easiest to reach can all influence what ends up in our baskets.

"Everyone is free to buy what they want, however our role at Healthy Living is to support the community to make informed, intentional decisions and alter impulse purchases." Dr Ahmed Alkhazraji, Executive Director, Healthy Living, told Aletihad.

The Science Explained

An Abu Dhabi-based researcher sees the initiative as an "excellent example" of applying behavioral science to policymaking.

Speaking to Aletihad, Prof Nikos Nikiforakis, Director of the Center for Behavioral Institutional Design (C-BID) at New York University Abu Dhabi, said the policy is ultimately a matter of "choice architecture”, or the design of how options are presented to people.

"Products have to be placed somewhere, both in physical supermarkets and online, and retailers have strong incentives to use placement to influence what consumers buy” Nikiforakis said.

“The question is therefore not whether choices should be influenced, but how.”
The responsible food placement policy targets situations where shoppers are especially prone to impulse purchases that could leave them "worse off in the long run”, he said. It helps prevent shoppers from grabbing snacks that looked tempting in the moment but, on second thought, they'd rather not eat.

Making Healthy Choices Easier

In real-life grocery runs, decisions are not always made with extensive time or consideration. People may be shopping while busy, hungry with children or simply rushing through their day.

Fitness coach and nutritionist Louise Shields said this is where the policy helps.

"Encouraging healthier options to be more visible can help people make better choices without feeling like they're having to consciously fight temptation every time they shop," Shields told Aletihad.

Balance, not food restrictions, is what matters in maintaining a healthy diet, she said. "It's about what you do consistently, not one chocolate bar or packet of crisps."

Preparing meals in advance and keeping healthy snacks on hand can help, especially for parents.

"When we're tired, busy and hungry, we're naturally going to reach for whatever is easiest," Shields explained.

"If you haven't prepared for the day ahead, you'll probably end up eating whatever is there."

Long-term Impact

International experience with similar food placement policies has shown the potential for changes to the retail environment to influence purchasing patterns and encourage greater visibility and availability of healthier options.

Prof Nikiforakis explained the wider potential impact: "Retailers may respond by giving greater prominence to healthier products, while producers may have stronger incentives to develop or reformulate products that qualify for prominent placement.”

"Over time, changing what consumers routinely see in prominent locations could also influence perceptions of what constitutes a normal food choice,” he added. 

Importantly, the policy does not ban any products or restrict what consumers can buy.

Healthy Living emphasises that the policy is not about telling people what they can or cannot buy. In fact, it doesn't prescribe any list of products that retailers must display in high-traffic zones.

Products covered by the policy are determined according to established nutritional criteria under the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre’s SEHHI classification. This means whether an item is covered depends on its nutritional makeup - not the type of product, or whether it's commonly seen as a "treat”.

What Success Looks Like

For Healthy Living, success will ultimately be measured by whether the policy changes purchasing patterns and makes healthier choices easier in practice. The ambition is to create an environment where healthier choices become easier and more routine, while people remain free to choose what they want to buy.

Todić has already experienced that intended outcome. When she and her husband couldn’t find the high-sugar energy drink and chocolate they usually picked up at the checkout, they realised they would have to actively go back into the store to find them.

“We were at the checkout counter; we wouldn’t have time to go back inside,” she said.