Sales ban intervention
confusion
A workplace sales ban calls for the removal of SSB from all workplace sales venues, including cafeterias, vending machines, food courts and other retail outlets. SSB are defined as beverages with added sugars, including sodas, sports drinks, ‘fruit’ drinks, sweetened coffees, and teas. Employees and visitors can still bring in and consume SSB purchased outside the workplace.In the five sales ban sites recruited for this study, the study team worked closely with hospital leaders, vendors, and suppliers to consistently adopt and implement a new procurement policy that eliminated SSB while promoting substitutes without added sugars (e.g. artificially sweetened beverages, bottled water and unsweetened tea). Notification of the sales ban was posted in the hospital cafeterias 2 weeks prior to implementation. Random audits by study staff of all food and beverage outlets were conducted monthly, resulting in approximately 500 location visits. Overall compliance was adequate with 82·5 % of visits finding no SSB. Most violations were due to confusion by wholesale purchasers about the sugar content of beverages and were referred to the director of Food and Nutrition Services for prompt removal. Three control hospital campuses continued to sell SSB as usual.