Healthy vending plan-o-grams in health services

Health services
person pressing buttons on a vending machine keypad

The Victorian Government’s Healthy choices: Policy directive for Victorian public health services applies to all vending machines located within all public health services.

Food and drink requirements

  • Food must be provided in line with the Healthy choices: food and drink classification guide and policy guidelines for hospitals and health services (at least 50% of the food available or displayed classified GREEN and no more than 20% classified RED). *
  • There is no sale of sugary (or RED category) drinks.
  • Drinks classified GREEN must be at least 50% of the total proportion of drinks available or displayed. In addition, drinks containing artificial or intense sweeteners (classified AMBER) must be no more than 20% of the total proportion available or displayed.
  • Both food and drinks classified RED cannot be promoted/advertised.

*Note for mixed vending machines, these requirements have been modified. See example plan-o-gram 3 below.

Tips for stocking your vending machine

GREEN items should be placed on the most prominent shelves (for example, at eye-level) and AMBER or RED items should be in the least prominent positions (for example, the lowest shelf of the machine).

The plan-o-grams below provide examples of how to stock drinks, snacks and mixed vending machines in line with the Policy directive and the Healthy Choices guidelines. These plan-o-grams are only examples – there are many ways to stock a healthy vending machine.

Tips for auditing your vending machine

To reflect the contents of your vending machine most accurately in FoodChecker, it is best practice to audit your vending machines at a time when they’re fully stocked. However, there may often be times when products are sold out and your vending machines may be partially filled.

In this instance, firstly contact your supplier to confirm when the vending machine is likely to be restocked so you can plan to audit at a time when the machine is full. This will help ensure that the results from your audit are not skewed by missing products.

It is also recommended to cross check the stock against a plan-o-gram provided by your supplier, to determine what products are meant to be in place of absent stock.

Drinks only vending machine

Plan-o-gram example 1

In this example:

  • GREEN drinks make up the majority (50%) of all drinks in the machine.
  • AMBER drinks containing artificial or intense sweeteners make up 17% of all drinks in the machine. Drinks marked with a black banner are artificially or intensely sweetened AMBER drinks.
  • There are no sugary (or RED category) drinks available for sale.

The GREEN drinks are positioned prominently at eye level, at the top of the vending machine.

There are only a few AMBER artificially or intensely sweetened drinks available and these are placed at the bottom of the machine.

Examples of common GREEN, AMBER and AMBER artificially sweetened drinks include:

GREENAMBERAMBER artificially sweetened (with no added sugar)
Plain still or sparkling waterFruit juice (99% real fruit juice, no added sugar and less than 250mL serve size)‘Diet’, ‘no sugar’ and ‘low joule’ drinks with no added sugar
Water flavoured with natural essenceRegular fat plain milk‘Diet’ or ‘Zero sugar’ soft drinks
Reduced fat plain milk or alternativesReduced-fat flavoured milk or alternatives* that are between 900–1,600 kJ per serveArtificially sweetened energy drinks less than 250mL serve size
Reduced-fat flavoured milk or alternatives* equal to or less than 900 kj per serveRegular-fat flavoured milk or alternatives* equal to or less than 1,600 kJ per serve‘Zero sugar’ sports drinks
Tea or coffee with reduced fat milk and no added sugarKombucha and other fermented soft drinks (less than 1 g of sugar per 100 mL, alcohol content equal to or less than 0.5%) ‘Zero sugar’ iced teas
100% coconut water (no added sugar) and less than 300 kJ
Tea or coffee with regular fat milk and added sugar

Snacks only vending machine

Plan-o-gram example 2

In this example:

  • GREEN snacks make up the majority (56%) of food available.
  • AMBER snacks make up 26% of food available.
  • RED snacks make up no more than 20% of food available.

Whilst it is best practice to place GREEN or AMBER items at the top of a vending machine and place RED items at the bottom, this is not always possible due to the functions of the machine.

For example, some RED or AMBER items (like popcorn and potato chips) are very light weight items and may be better placed at the top of a vending machine. There may only be spaces to fit larger GREEN items such as cereal cups or oat cups at the bottom of the machine.

Therefore, in the example plan-o-gram shown, GREEN snacks are displayed as prominently as would be possible in a real life, practical situation.

diagram of a snacks only vending machine containing mostly green items and smaller amounts of red and brown items

Examples of common GREEN, AMBER and RED snacks include:

GREENAMBERRED
Vegetable based soupLightly salted, air popped popcornChocolate bars
Mixed nuts, unsaltedDried fruit medley Lollies and confectionery
Fruit and nut mixSome muesli barsPotato chips
Fruit cups in natural juiceRegular fat cheese and crackers snack packsSome muesli bars (for example, those coated in chocolate)
Oat cups
Wholegrain cereal cups
Reduced fat cheese and crackers snack packs
Tuna canned in spring water

Mixed vending machine

Plan-o-gram example 3

For vending machines that contain foods and drinks, the percentage targets apply to the whole machine. At least 50% of all items (foods and/or drinks) in the machine must be GREEN*, and no more than 20% of all items in the machine should be RED (this should be from foods only).

No sugary (or RED category) drinks are to be available or promoted. Artificially or intensely sweetened drinks (classified AMBER) must be no more than 20% of all drinks available or displayed.

*Whilst the % GREEN target can be from combined foods and drinks, ensure there is an equal focus/effort on providing GREEN foods as part of this combined target.

In this example:

  • GREEN snacks and drinks make up the majority (52%) of total items.
  • AMBER snacks and drinks make up 34% of total items. Of the total drinks provided, AMBER drinks containing artificial or intense sweetener make up 14% of all drinks in the machine.
  • RED snacks make up 14% of total items.
  • There are no sugary (or RED category) drinks available for sale.
diagram of a vending machine containing drinks and snacks coloured green, red and brown

More information

FoodChecker

Health services can use FoodChecker to assess the foods and drinks in their vending machines using the dedicated Healthy choices – policy directive assessment flow. You can also use FoodChecker to look up healthier GREEN and AMBER products.

Policy directive for health services

For more information on the Policy directive click here.

Healthy choices food and drink classification guide

For more information on how foods and drinks are classified in the GREEN, AMBER and RED categories, download the Healthy Choices: food and drink classification guide.

For more information please phone 1300 22 52 88 or email heas@nutritionaustralia.org.au

Except where otherwise indicated, the images in this document show models and illustrative settings only, and do not necessarily depict actual services, facilities or recipients of services. This document may contain images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In this document, ‘Aboriginal’ refers to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ‘Indigenous’ or ‘Koori/Koorie’ is retained when part of the title of a report, program or quotation. Copyright © State of Victoria 2016

Written and reviewed by dietitians and nutritionists at Nutrition Australia, with support from the Victorian Government.

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