Meal Delivery Apps Steer Australians Toward Unhealthy Food, Researchers Warn of Policy Gap

Before they decide what to eat, many Australians open a delivery app and scroll for a deal. That habit sits at the center of a national study from the Health Policy Centre at SAHMRI, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, which looked at how people actually use apps such as Uber Eats and DoorDash.

The researchers ran 12 focus groups with 112 adults across Australia. They asked how people use meal delivery apps and how promotions, app design and nutrition information shape their choices. The team describes it as one of the first Australian studies to look at consumer views beyond frequent users, and says it arrives as governments look to tighten rules on junk food marketing, particularly to children.

The clearest finding was about perception. Across every age group, participants linked the apps with unhealthy options, fast food in particular, and that association shaped how they used them and what they ordered. Lead author Jess Morrison, a Ph.D. candidate at SAHMRI and Adelaide University, said people open these apps thinking about convenience, indulgence and getting a deal, not about health.

Promotions carried much of the weight. Free delivery, 20% off and buy one, get one free were central to decisions, and often tipped people toward ordering in rather than cooking at home. Morrison said deals were not merely noticed but expected. Participants described scrolling for offers before choosing a meal, and many said the discounts helped justify the cost of using the apps and eased the guilt of picking less healthy food.

Nutrition information drew little enthusiasm. Some participants thought calorie labels or health ratings might sway heavy users, but most said they would ignore them when ordering a treat. The researchers suggest that may shift as use becomes more frequent, and users may grow more interested in nutrition information. Morrison pointed to other studies showing such information can improve the healthiness of choices among more regular users.

The policy argument follows from that. Morrison said online delivery platforms sit outside many of the nutrition policies that apply in physical food environments. She suggested measures such as stronger incentives for healthier options and limits on price promotions for unhealthy foods, arguing that given how strongly promotions influence choices, action here could make a real difference.

Adjunct professor Terry Slevin, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, shares the concern that regulation is not keeping pace with technology. He called for nationally consistent menu labeling that applies wherever food is sold, so consumers see the same nutrition information at the counter, in a restaurant's own app or on a delivery platform. He also said that as the federal government considers action on unhealthy food marketing to children, delivery apps and other digital food environments need to be part of the response. In his view, the apps are another step toward Australians eating more unhealthy food, and unhealthy diets drive obesity and, in turn, chronic disease.

With delivery apps projected to keep expanding rapidly, the question now is whether the government's marketing rules and any menu labeling requirements will reach them.