Pandemia da Covid-19: efeitos no ambiente alimentar de varejo em três cidades da região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Objective: Describing the retail food environment in the first year of Covid-19 pandemic. Method: Ecological study carried out in three different cities belonging to the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (MRBH). Data about retail food environment and C ovid-19 pandemic were collected from secondary databases. The following variables were evaluated: establishments’ opening and closing based on their type and category. Descriptive analysis (relative frequency) was performed in Stata 14.0 software; maps were plotted in QGIS 2.10.1 software. Results: Immediate-consumption food retailers were among establishments that have closed during the first year of the pandemic (Belo Horizonte, 76.53%; Betim, 69.95%; and Contagem, 70.87%). Nevertheless, the overall features of the retail food environment remained unchanged in all three investigated cities, which mostly presented high availability of ultra-processed food retailers. Conclusion: The Covid-19 pandemic had significant impact on immediate-consumption food retailers. However, it is still not possible measuring the long-term impact generated by it because this follow-up type requires identifying whether the food environment was remodeled, or not.