A color-coded system could help people make healthier choices at food pantries, study shows Taylor Avery, USA TODAY
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Food pantry patrons make healthier choices when foods are organized by nutrition level, new research shows.
Using a food categorizing system called Supporting Wellness at Pantries that ranks different foods based on their level of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars, researchers found patrons selected 11% more healthy foods and decreased unhealthy choices by 7%. The most important finding from this study is that people who go to food pantries, like all of us, want to eat a healthy diet, and it s very hard to quickly figure out which items are the healthiest, said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and an author of the study. The purpose of SWAP is to just simplify that whole process by doing all of the evaluating ahead of time, having a simple color-coded system that s very easy to unde
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Giving food pantry clients choices - and gently nudging them toward nutritious foods - can lead to healthier diets
Caitlin Caspi, University of Connecticut
May 25, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail Caitlin Caspi, University of Connecticut and Marlene B. Schwartz, University of Connecticut
(THE CONVERSATION) Food banks and pantries across the U.S. were forced in the pandemic to dispense with something that is central to most people’s grocery experience: choice.
Faced with social-distancing rules and a large uptick in need – by one estimate these nonprofits served 55% more people – for the most part, clients were offered prepacked bags or boxes of food rather than allowed to pick from shelves themselves, as was increasingly common before the pandemic.
Food banks and pantries across the U.S. were forced in the pandemic to dispense with something that is central to most people’s grocery experience: choice.
Faced with social-distancing rules and a large uptick in need – by one estimate these nonprofits served 55% more people – for the most part, clients were offered prepacked bags or boxes of food rather than allowed to pick from shelves themselves, as was increasingly common before the pandemic.
It was one of a number of adaptations that food banks and pantries made in 2020, which also included drive-thru services and expanded meal delivery options.
The content of these prepacked bags differed from venue to venue and also by who was assembling them. As a result, there was tremendous variability in the quality of produce being offered and whether they contained the kind of food that people were seeking.