Nearly half of the 14,500 tons of solid waste generated by public schools in the US is food packaging. University of California researchers have created a standardized method to measure this waste as a first step toward reducing it. They started by evaluating methods used to quantify and categorize the types of food packaging waste generated and how it is disposed of in school foodservice settings in a new publication in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The article debuts a proposed new instrument–Waste Audit for Sustainable Transitions and Evaluations (WASTE)–to help the research community better measure and understand food packaging waste in US school foodservice. The study was led by UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management doctoral candidate Jessica Heiges in collaboration with Danielle Lee, Wendi Gosliner and Lorrene Ritchie from the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, Hannah Thompson and Kristine Madsen from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Kate O'Neill from the UC Berkeley Department of ESPM, Laura Vollmer from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Kate Wobbekind from San Francisco Unified School District. This research was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant number 2020-68015-30736.

A recent National WIC Association report, Multi-State WIC Participant Satisfaction Survey: Cash Value Benefit Increase During COVID, shows an increase in child fruit and vegetable consumption among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) after the WIC Cash Value Benefit (CVB) for fruits and vegetables was enhanced through the American Rescue Plan Act in summer 2021. The report analyzes over 10,000 responses from WIC participants across 5 State WIC Agencies–Connecticut, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, and New Mexico–in 2021. Researchers found that when the monthly CVB for children was increased from $9 to $35, children's total daily fruit and vegetable intake increased by approximately 1/3 cup. The study also showed that WIC participants prefer a CVB amount higher than $9 and closer to $35 per month to cover the fruit and vegetable needs of their child. The study was conducted by researchers at the UC Nutrition Policy Institute including Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, and Celeste Felix, in partnership with private consultant Linnea Sallack, Georgia Machell and Christina Chauvenet from the National WIC Association, and Shannon Whaley from Public Health Foundation Enterprise-WIC. The study was funded by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the From Now On Fund, the National WIC Association, and the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The California Department of Social Services became the State Agency to oversee the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which was previously managed by the California Department of Education, effective July 1, 2021. This administrative change to the program was initiated by the Budget Act of Fiscal Year 2021 in alignment with the State's goal to build and strengthen equitable, comprehensive, quality, and affordable child care and development systems for the children and families in California. The Nutrition Policy Institute will work with the CACFP Roundtable to identify barriers experienced by child care centers that work directly with the state or through a sponsoring organization and child care center sponsors in accessing CACFP in order to inform recommendations for improvement. The six-month project began in September 2021 and is lead by Nutrition Policy Institute principal investigator and director, Lorrene Ritchie, in collaboration with NPI researchers Danielle Lee, Christina Hecht, and Claudia Olague.

The National WIC Association, alongside researchers from the University of California Nutrition Policy Institute and Pepperdine University, released a new report that reveals high levels of satisfaction among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) with adjustments made to program services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report includes results from a multistate survey conducted in spring 2021 of over 26,000 WIC participants across 12 State WIC Agencies including Colorado, Connecticut, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. This report complements and informs ongoing efforts to modernize WIC services to meet the needs of over 6.2 million WIC participants. Report authors include Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, and Lanxin Song from the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, independent consultant Linnea Sallack, Christina Chauvenet and Georgia Machell from the National WIC Association, Loan Kim from Pepperdine University, and Shannon E. Whaley from Public Health Foundation Enterprise-WIC. The report was funded by the National WIC Association, UC ANR, and The David and Lucille Packard Foundation.