- Author: Cate Seel
- Contributor: Wendi Gosliner
- Contributor: Ron Strochlic
- Contributor: Sridharshi Hewawitharana
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Nutrition Policy Institute researchers conducted an evaluation of the California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP), which provides CalFresh (the California division of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) participants with dollar-for-dollar incentives for the purchase of California-grown fruits and vegetables (FV). The study explored FV purchases, FV intake, and food security among CalFresh shoppers at farmers markets not participating in CNIP, farmers markets offering $10 and $20 maximum matching incentives, and nearby supermarkets not offering incentives. Their findings indicate that higher CNIP maximum incentive levels are associated with greater odds of participants purchasing fruits and vegetables at farmers markets. While the researchers found no significant difference in overall food security between shoppers at farmers markets offering different maximum incentive levels, each additional incentive dollar received was associated with reduced odds of food insecurity. Although incentives did not lead to a quantitatively measurable change in produce consumption, participants did self-report a perceived increase in produce consumption and were able to purchase a wider variety of FV and support their local communities and growers. Most shoppers reported that CNIP is important in their decision to shop at farmers markets and expressed high levels of satisfaction with CNIP as well as a desire to see the program expand. Findings were published in the journal Nutrients in June 2022. The study was conducted by researchers Wendi Gosliner, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Ron Strochlic, Celeste Felix, and Caroline Long from the Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It was funded by California Department of Food and Agriculture award number 17-0212-005-SF.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Wendi Gosliner
California will invest $20 million in the Healthy Refrigeration Grant Program, which offers grants to individual stores as well as organizations to expand access to fresh foods in communities experiencing reduced access to fresh, diverse foods. Civil Eats highlighted the investment in a Feb. 22, 2022 article titled ‘California Gives a Big Boost to Corner Stores that Sell Fresh Produce'. The article features evaluation findings of the grant program led by Nutrition Policy Institute researcher Wendi Gosliner in collaboration with Marisa Tsai and Elsa Esparza. Gosliner's research is quoted as “store owners noted that the Healthy Refrigeration Grant Program's California-grown specification posed a significant hurdle. Some produce doesn't have origin labels at all, making it impossible to determine if it qualifies, and sometimes the fruits and vegetables that customers prefer aren't available at an affordable price from California growers.”
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Gail Woodward-Lopez
A new study from University of California researchers suggests that most fast food restaurants in low-income neighborhoods in California are not offering beverages online in a way that is consistent with the state's healthy beverage law for children's meals sold on the restaurant's website and popular online ordering platforms like DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats. California's Healthy-By-Default Beverage law requires restaurants to offer only plain or sparkling water with no added sweeteners, unflavored milk or unflavored non-dairy milk as the default beverage in children's meals. The law also requires that menus, menu boards and advertisements for children's meals include only approved default options. Researchers found that less than six percent of the observations they made on the online ordering platforms of 245 fast food restaurants across low-income California neighborhoods were offering children's meal beverages that were consistent with the Healthy-By-Default Beverage law in its most restrictive interpretation. This is cause for concern as online ordering platforms are gaining popularity. The study was published online in the journal Public Health Nutrition by Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Hannah Thompson, Anna Martin, Ron Strochlic, Sonali Singh, and Gail Woodward Lopez as part of the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation.
In the United States, over 25 million people work and learn at colleges and universities, consuming an untold number of meals, snacks, and beverages while on campus. Unlike in K-12 schools, higher education institutions are not governed by federal policies to ensure that foods and beverages sold on campus meet minimum nutrition standards. While many universities participate in voluntary campus wellness initiatives, only one university–the University of California (UC), Berkeley–has officially adopted a comprehensive, campus-wide nutrition policy, the Food and Beverage Choices (FBC) Policy. Researchers at the UC Nutrition Policy Institute and UC Berkeley collaborated with the FBC policy implementation team to publish a case report in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, presenting detailed information on the development, establishment, implementation and evaluation of the FBC policy. The report includes discussion of the challenges and barriers encountered during policy implementation and offers valuable insight for other universities seeking to develop and implement their own nutrition policies. The report was developed by Zachary Rickrode-Fernandez of Center for Environmental Health and UC Berkeley, Janice Kao of the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, and Mary Lesser and Kim Guess of UC Berkeley.
Over 40% of US children ages 2-5 years consume sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), a concerning statistic given SSB are a leading contributor to child obesity. One-in-three children eat at quick-service restaurants on any given day and policies that require restaurant kids' meals to offer only healthy default beverages are one strategy to improve children's beverage intake. Researchers at the University of California (UC) Nutrition Policy Institute and the University of Delaware Center for Research in Education and Social Policy recently examined restaurant beverage offerings in 111 quick-service restaurants in California and 16 quick- and full-service restaurants in Wilmington, Delaware before and after restaurant healthy default beverage policies were implemented. California law, SB1192, requires that only water and unflavored milk or a non-dairy equivalent be offered with restaurant kids' meals. The Wilmington policy, ordinance no. 18-046, allows for flavored milk and unsweetened 100% juice or juice diluted with water in addition to the beverages allowed in California. Observations of restaurant menus showed improvement from 2019 to 2020 in beverages offered with kids' meals in California, but not in Wilmington, post-policy. However, during orders of kids' meals, only 1% of restaurant cashiers or servers offered the healthy default beverage in California and none in Wilmington after the policies went into effect. Less than one in four restaurant managers interviewed in California knew about the beverage policy, and none did so in Wilmington, despite most managers in both California and Wilmington expressing support for the policy. This study suggests the need for additional efforts to strengthen the implementation of kids' meal beverage policies. The study was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition by NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie, Phoebe Harpainter, Marisa Tsai, Gail Woodward-Lopez and Wendi Gosliner in collaboration with Tara Tracy, Kathleen McCallops and Allison Karpyn from the University of Delaware and Isabel Thompson from UC Berkeley. The study was funded by the California Department of Public Health, with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – USDA SNAP, a grant to Duke University from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.