Abstract

Introduction: Food environments largely determine the eating behavior of the population, which is why they are associated with the obesity epidemic. It is the responsibility of States to formulate and implement policies to intervene in obesogenic food environments. The success of the policies will depend on factors that act as barriers or facilitators. Objective: To identify the barriers and facilitators for the formulation and implementation of public policies that address obesogenic food environments. Material and method: Secondary study based on narrative review. The identification, screening and selection of published articles was guided by the PRISMA diagram. For the identification, the electronic databases PubMed, Scielo, Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) were used, entering search fields and keywords. In the screening, duplicates were eliminated and inclusion criteria were applied. The methodological quality of eligible studies was assessed using the CASPe protocol. Results: Qualitative studies that used interviews with key actors were reviewed. The barriers identified for the process of formulating policies on obesogenic food environments are the negative economic impact, lack of scientific evidence on the effectiveness of policies, influence of the food industry, weaknesses in coordination and technical cooperation. The identified facilitators are the political commitment of the States with international agencies, a joint work approach with the food industry and academic support. Conclusion: Policymaking to intervene in obesogenic food environments is especially limited by the food industry. It is relevant to generate scientific evidence of the impact that the implemented regulations have had on economic factors and on the health of the population. Collaboration between governments and the food industry could derive policies that, in addition to having a positive impact on the health of the population, would mean an opportunity for the private sector and the generation of employment.