Focus Area: Food Retail

Evaluating a USDA Program that Gives SNAP Participants Financial Incentives to Buy Fresh Produce in Supermarkets

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Pricing incentives may reduce disparities in obesity among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants by increasing fruit and vegetable purchases. However, few studies have evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of those incentives in supermarkets, as opposed to farmers markets. In 2015 and 2016, as part of a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) pilot program, a More

Changes to SNAP-authorized retailer stocking requirements and the supply of foods and beverages in low-income communities in seven U.S. states

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Low-income communities often lack access to supermarkets and healthy foods. Enhanced stocking requirements for staple foods for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)- authorized retailers may increase availability of healthy foods in smaller stores which are prevalent in low-income areas. This study aimed to evaluate the extent that small food stores located in low-income areas met More

Appalachian Store Owners’ and Managers’ Perspectives on the Role of Their Store in the Community and in Providing Healthier Food to the Community

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Appalachian communities have lower access to healthier food sources like grocery stores. Through semi-structured interviews with owner/managers of convenience stores in Appalachian communities, this qualitative study explored perceived roles and business practices of small food retailers using a grounded theory approach. Five themes emerged including strong relationships between stores and customers, the role of the More

Does Point-of-Sale Nutrition Information Improve the Nutritional Quality of Food Choices?

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Point-of-sale nutrition information has been adopted by numerous grocery stores to respond to the demand for easy-to-understand nutrition labeling by consumers. Although there is conflicting evidence regarding the effectiveness of providing nutrition information, previous research indicates simplified shelf nutrition labels may lead to healthier choices. However, these studies have not examined how different consumer segments More

Evaluating the Policy Impact of Healthy Default Beverages in Children’s Meals: Cross-state Comparison

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Beginning January 2019 in California and Wilmington, Delaware, all restaurants selling children’s meals that include a beverage must provide healthy default options (unsweetened water and milk in California; water, milk or 100% juice in Delaware). In December 2018, baseline data on children’s meal beverage options were collected from a sample of fast food restaurants in More

Healthy Retail Research Convening

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Healthy Eating Research (HER) is commissioning the Center for Science in the Public Interest to produce a report outlining the proceedings of a convening to develop a research agenda for healthy retail. The resulting research agenda and proceedings will be based on a series of literature reviews, white papers, interviews, and convening discussions. In 2010, More

The Impact of NuVal Shelf Nutrition Labels on Food Purchase

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Summary shelf nutrition labels are one of a handful of practical strategies that hold the promise of improving nutrition and public health. Researchers used a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of the NuVal shelf label—an interpretive numeric score, now defunct, that rated the overall nutrition of foods from one (least healthful) to 100 (most More

The Role of Chain Pharmacies to Promote Healthy Food Retail: Current Trends, Legal Limits, and Policy Opportunities

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Chain drug stores have increased their health care role through expanded pharmacy services and retail health clinics. They also are major food retailers. This creates a tension between health promotion and sales of unhealthy foods and beverages to pharmacy customers. This article explores opportunities to improve the nutritional quality of foods sold at chain drug More