The Star: Grocery giants are living off the fat of the land
2 March 2026YOU are what you eat – and in South Africa, the country’s biggest supermarkets are pushing unhealthy options, shaping diets at home and risking a continent-wide obesity crisis as their influence spreads across Africa.
South Africans now have an adult obesity rate of 30.8%, nearly three times higher than the Sub-Saharan African average of 11.4%, studies show, and their purchases are influenced by what’s cheapest, most visible, and most promoted on supermarket shelves, leading them to buy cheap, ultra-processed foods.
The Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNi), a Netherlands-based global foundation, analysed Shoprite, Pick n Pay, and Spar as part of a wider six-country study that also included the US, France, Kenya, Indonesia and the Philippines.
It found that across these countries, sugary drinks, snacks, and ready-to-eat meals dominate 50% to 80% of featured promotions, while fruit, vegetables, and legumes are barely featured, underscoring how diets are shaped by retail incentives, not just culture.
ATNi’s South Africa Retail Assessment 2025, which evaluated how leading food retailers influence access to nutritious and affordable foods, found that in South Africa, healthier food baskets are roughly 30% more expensive than less-healthy ones.
Executive Director Greg Garrett warns that the country’s nutrition challenges are worsened by the cost-of-living crisis, with cost and corporate strategy shaping what South Africans put on their plates.
“With only about 30% of products classified as healthier and 70% unhealthy, and the least healthy baskets being the cheapest, people naturally gravitate toward those options. Over time, this places a strain on the healthcare system, because these foods are generally low in micronutrients.”
The ATNi study analysed 3 496 private-label products across the three retailers, showing that most failed the nutritional criteria to be classified as healthy.