scholarly journals Food System Workers are the Unexpected but Under Protected COVID Heroes

2020 ◽  
Vol 150 (8) ◽  
pp. 2006-2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney A Parks ◽  
Nadine Budd Nugent ◽  
Sheila E Fleischhacker ◽  
Amy L Yaroch
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Food System ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Food Pantry ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Emergency Food System

ABSTRACT Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses an occupational health risk to food system workers including farmers/producers, grocery store workers, emergency food system staff and volunteers (e.g., food pantry workers), and others. These food system workers have been pushed to the front-line of this pandemic, providing essential services that support food consumption for all Americans. Food system workers are some of the most economically vulnerable populations and are at risk of further financial disparities and contraction of COVID-19 during this pandemic. As we continue to grapple with the best strategies to support the food system and mitigate concerns around the spread of COVID-19, appropriate measures must be considered to better protect and support front-line food system workers that safeguard food access for all Americans.

scholarly journals The Charitable Feeding System helps Food Insecure Participants maintain Fruit and Vegetable intake during COVID-19.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farryl MW Bertmann ◽  
Katherine Rogomentich ◽  
Emily H Belarmino ◽  
Meredith T. Niles
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Food System ◽  
Dietary Quality ◽  
Food Banks ◽  
Food Services ◽  
Fruit And Vegetable ◽  
Food Pantry ◽  
Food Insecure Households

Charitable food services, including food banks and pantries, support individual and households' food access, potentially maintaining food security and diet quality during emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of food banks and pantries has increased in the US. Here we examine perceptions of the charitable food system and its relationship to food security and dietary quality, specifically fruit and vegetable (FV) intake during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a statewide representative survey (n=600) of residents of Vermont. We find that demand for charitable food services increased by 68%. The utilization of food pantries was more common among food insecure households and households with children. Among food insecure respondents, those who used the charitable food system were less likely to reduce their FV intake during the pandemic than those who did not use the charitable food system. Further, we find significant interactions between food pantry use and food insecure households, suggesting that, for food, insecure households, utilizing a food pantry since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with higher fruit consumption. These results indicate that these services may support food access and diet quality for at-risk populations during emergencies.

scholarly journals Pilot testing an intervention to educate and promote nutritious choices at food pantries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. McKee ◽  
Eminet Abebe Gurganus ◽  
Abiodun T. Atoloye ◽  
Ran Xu ◽  
Katie Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Food System ◽  
Saturated Fat ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Food Pantry ◽  
Food Pantries ◽  
Client Choice ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Aim This study aimed to assess the impact of the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) system on client food selections at a food pantry. Subject and methods In a pre–post comparison study design, a client-choice food pantry implemented SWAP by reorganizing its inventory to promote healthy options. Each product was ranked as “choose often” (green), “sometimes” (yellow), or “rarely” (red) based on saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. Signage was added to indicate each item’s SWAP rank and healthier foods were placed at eye level. Client food baskets were assessed at time 1 (n = 121) and time 2 (n = 101). The proportions of green and red foods selected were compared using regression analyses. Results The regression analyses showed that the proportion of green foods selected by clients increased by 11% (p < 0.001) and the proportion of red foods selected decreased by 7% (p < 0.001) after SWAP was implemented (n = 222). Conclusions SWAP has the potential to positively shift client choices among the items available in a food pantry setting. SWAP is one component of a suite of changes to the charitable food system that have the potential to alleviate food insecurity, improve diet quality, and assist clients in managing diet-related diseases.

Perceived neighborhood food access is associated with consumption of animal-flesh food, fruits and vegetables among mothers and young children in peri-urban Cambodia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Minh-Cam Duong ◽  
Hung Nguyen-Viet ◽  
Delia Grace ◽  
Chhay Ty ◽  
Huy Sokchea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Phnom Penh ◽  
Consumption Frequency ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Objective: To examine whether mothers’ perceived neighborhood food access is associated with their own and their young children’s consumption of animal-flesh food, fruits and vegetables in peri-urban areas of Cambodia. Design: A cross-sectional survey measured food consumption frequency and perceived neighborhood food access, the latter including six dimensions of food availability, affordability, convenience, quality, safety and desirability. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between food access and food consumption. Setting: Peri-urban districts of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia Participants: 198 mothers of children between 6 to 24 months old. Results: Over 25% of the mothers and 40% of the children had low consumption (< once a day) of either animal-flesh food or fruits and vegetables. Compared with perceived high food access, perceived low food access was associated with an adjusted 5.6-fold and 4.3-fold greater odds of low animal-flesh food consumption among mothers (95% CI 2.54, 12.46) and children (95% CI 2.20, 8.60) respectively. Similarly, relative to perceived high access, perceived low food access was associated with 7.6-times and 5.1-times higher adjusted odds of low fruits and vegetables consumption among mothers (95% CI 3.22, 18.02) and children (95% CI 2.69, 9.83) respectively. Conclusions: Mothers’ perceived neighborhood food access was an important predictor of their own and their young children’s nutrient-rich food consumption in peri-urban Cambodia. Future work is needed to confirm our findings in other urban settings and examine the role of neighborhood food environment on the consumption of both nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor food.

scholarly journals How well do different dietary and nutrition assessment tools match? Insights from rural Kenya

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Fongar ◽  
Theda Gödecke ◽  
Antony Aseta ◽  
Matin Qaim
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Dietary Quality ◽  
Anthropometric Measures ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Rural Kenya

AbstractObjectiveVarious indicators and assessment tools exist to measure diets and nutrition. Most studies eventually rely on one approach. Relatively little is known about how closely results match when different tools are used in the same context. The present study compares and correlates different indicators for the same households and individuals to better understand which indicators can be used as proxies for others.DesignA survey of households and individuals was carried out in Kenya in 2015. Seven-day food consumption and 24 h dietary recalls were administered at household and individual level, respectively. Individual height and weight measures were taken. Different indicators of food access (energy consumption, household dietary diversity scores), dietary quality (individual dietary diversity scores, micronutrient intakes) and nutrition (anthropometric indicators) were calculated and correlated to evaluate associations.SettingRural farm households in western Kenya.ParticipantsData collected from 809 households and 1556 individuals living in these households (782 female adults, 479 male adults, 295 children aged 6–59 months).ResultsAll measures of food access and dietary quality were positively correlated at individual level. Household-level and individual-level dietary indicators were also positively correlated. Correlations between dietary indicators and anthropometric measures were small and mostly statistically insignificant.ConclusionsDietary indicators from 7d food consumption recalls at the household level can be used as proxies of individual dietary quality of children and male and female adults. Individual dietary diversity scores are good proxies of micronutrient intakes. However, neither household-level nor individual-level dietary indicators are good proxies of individual nutritional status in this setting.

What Is Our Culture? I Don’t Even Know

2019 ◽  
pp. 69-90
Author(s):  
Ashanté M. Reese
Keyword(s):  
Food Access ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Local Food System ◽  
Self Reliance

This chapter turns to the role of nostalgia in placemaking, community building, and the ways residents evaluated their local food system. In it, residents discuss self-reliance as a foundational ethos in the neighborhood’s history and also offer critiques of themselves and each other for not embodying self-reliance in the present, reflecting on the question “who is responsible?” for unequal food access. This chapter makes a claim that nostalgia plays an important role in the stories that people tell about food in the neighbourhood.

Sustainable Food Consumption in the Neoliberal Order

2021 ◽  
pp. 1036-1061
Author(s):  
Henry E. Alapiki ◽  
Luke A. Amadi
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food System ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
World Systems Theory ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
Global Food

In recent decades, we have seen the rise of the sustainable food consumption field and its push for disciplinary space in development studies. This chapter turns to the original impetus of sustainable food consumption and the question of how neoliberal order can be reconciled with the need to save the ecology. Beyond the fundamental objectives, there is a need to assess the links between the global food system, as influenced by neoliberal order, and the signs that it leads to adversity for low-income countries. A review of relevant literature in the sustainable consumption field is explored using content analysis to examine links between neoliberal food consumption dynamics, the logic of global food politics, and the emerging terminological shifts from food consumption to food system. The world systems theory and the Marxian political ecology framework are used to show that sustainability is notable for emphasizing resource efficiency and equitability, which can be useful when sustainability challenges are matched with ecological policies. This chapter makes some policy recommendations.

Issues in Global Food Politics and Options for Sustainable Food Consumption

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Luke Amadi
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Food System ◽  
International Order ◽  
Food Politics ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Global Food

This chapter reviews key issues in global food politics. The aim is to investigate the character and trajectories of the prevailing food system in the liberal international order and, in particular, explore implications of global food politics on sustainable food consumption. Dominant theorizations of food consumption leverage on a common assumption of its essentially profit-oriented character based on the capitalist appropriation, social construction of consumption, and value augmentation leaving behind the more pressing problem of sustainability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document