Food pantry clients are at an increased risk of poor diet quality which can lead to a variety of chronic diseases. Identifying nutrition interventions that help improve the dietary intake of this vulnerable population is important to help improve health outcomes. Utah’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed), also known as Food $ense, partners with many pantries throughout the state to improve healthy food access. This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a pantry intervention, Thumbs Up for Healthy Choices, to evaluate its impact on food pantry clients’ selection and use of identified healthy foods. In addition to program evaluation, data identifying interest in programs such as Thumbs Up, as well as common barriers that prevent pantry clients from making healthy choices was also collected and analyzed. This research was funded through a Utah State University (USU) Extension mini-grant for $8,500. The findings will be used to guide future SNAP-Ed initiatives that aim to make the healthy choice the easy choice in food pantries. The results will also be used to build the evidence base for the Thumbs Up for Healthy Choices program, which will allow other SNAP-Ed programs throughout the country to adopt and implement this effective program.

The latest edition of the Food and Drug Administration's Model Food Code provides the definition of an acceptable donated food item but does not specify any safe storage or handling standards for these items. Virginia has not adopted this edition, but its own food handling regulations provide liability protections to food donors and exempt food pantries from any relevant retail food handling regulations. This means that food pantries must provide their own oversight over implementation of safe food handling requirements. Some pantries only accept nonperishables, but others accept both perishable and nonperishable food, or prepare/repurpose food on site. Therefore, pantries have varying needs in terms of safe food handling and preparation oversight and guidance. This project aims to observe food safety practices at food pantries within Virginia, and to establish a set of recommendations based on these observations for food pantries to consider implementing. Twenty pantries throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia were observed when distributing food using a standardized rubric. This rubric allowed the observer to collect detail on food storage, handling, and preparation at the pantry. Each pantry was visited once and observed for about two hours. The manager of the pantry completed a survey to determine basic food safety knowledge. Generally, pantries successfully followed basic food safety guidelines, however there were some clear risky practices observed. These included improper handwashing, improper storage of perishable items, and improper volunteer personal hygiene. There were only two handwashing attempts observed between all 20 pantries and neither of these attempts was correct. In addition, 8 of 20 (40%) of the pantries did not keep up to date records of their refrigerator and freezer temperatures. Lack of personal hygiene, especially the use of personal items while handling food and lack of glove usage, was a concern. 9 of 20 (45%) of pantries had someone on site using a personal item while handling food, and 4 of 6 (67%) of pantries that prepared or cooked food on site had volunteers improperly wearing gloves during these activities. Managers at seventeen of twenty (85%) pantries reported completing some type of food safety training while only volunteers at six of twenty (30%) pantries reported the same. This demonstrates gaps in knowledge between volunteers and managers. The results of this study demonstrate the need for standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be made available for food pantries, as well as a food safety training created specifically for food pantry volunteers that is applicable to their scope of work. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / The latest edition of the Food and Drug Administration's Model Food Code provides the definition of an acceptable donated food item but does not specify any safe storage or handling standards for these items. Virginia has not adopted this edition, but its own food handling regulations provide liability to food donors and exempt food pantries from any relevant retail food handling regulations. This means that food pantries must provide their own oversight over implementation of safe food handling requirements. Some pantries only accept nonperishable food items, but others accept both perishable and nonperishable food, or prepare/repurpose food on site. Therefore, pantries have varying needs in terms of safe food handling and preparation oversight and guidance. This project aims to observe food safety practices at food pantries within Virginia, and to establish a set of recommendations based on these observations for food pantries to consider. Twenty pantries throughout the state of Virginia were observed during distribution using a standardized rubric. This rubric allowed the observer to collect detail on food storage, handling, and preparation at the pantry. Each pantry was visited once and observed for two hours. The manager of the pantry completed a survey on general basic food safety knowledge. Generally, pantries successfully followed basic food safety guidelines, however there were some clear risky practices observed. Consistently, these included risky practices around handwashing, proper storage of perishable items, and personal hygiene of volunteers. The results of this study show a pointed need for standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be created for food pantries, as well as a food safety training created specifically for food pantry volunteers that is applicable to their scope of work.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The thesis highlights the effectiveness of using location allocation model to find the optimum location of food pantries such that it serves maximum food insecure households. Since most households do not have personal means of transportation, the model makes sure that the food pantries are accessible at a walkable distance from the households. To reduce the shortage of food that the food pantries often face, the pantries are located near the food rescue sites like grocery stores, restaurants and institutional canteens. In this way, extra edible food with myriad choices can be diverted to the food insecure population at a walkable distance . Reducing food loss and food insecurity helps us move towards a better , more sustainable future.

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