Focus Area: Nutrition Policy & Programs

A click too far from fresh foods: A mixed methods comparison of online and in-store grocery behaviors among low-income households

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A recent policy in the U.S. authorized monthly benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to be used online to increase grocery access and promote healthy eating. This study examined online grocery attitudes and purchasing behaviors among low-income SNAP-eligible households with young children with and without online grocery experience. An explanatory sequential mixed methods More

Insights from Washington State’s COVID-19 Response: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of WIC Remote Services and Expanded Food Options Using the RE-AIM Framework

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington State’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WA WIC) adopted federal waivers to transition to remote service delivery for certification and education appointments. WA WIC also expanded the approved food list without using federal waivers, adding more than 600 new items to offset challenges participants experienced More

The Online Ordering Behaviors among Participants in the Oklahoma Women, Infants, and Children Program: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

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Online ordering is an innovative method being pilot-tested in some stores to facilitate WIC participants’ food benefit redemption, which has become especially important in the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research aimed to examine the online ordering behaviors among 726 WIC households who adopted WIC online ordering in a grocery chain, XYZ (anonymous) store, in Oklahoma More

A Systematic Scoping Review of the Literacy Literature to Develop a Digital Food and Nutrition Literacy Model for Low-income Adults to Make Healthy Choices in the Online Food Retail Ecosystem to Reduce Obesity Risk

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Adults with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by poverty, food insecurity, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In 2020–2021 amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expanded the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Online Purchasing Pilot program to enable eligible participants to purchase groceries online in 47 states. More

Recognizing and Supporting School Meal Programs as a Critical Nutrition Safety Net: Lessons from COVID-19

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School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted children’s access to school meals in 2020 and 2021. School food service authorities (SFAs), which are responsible for planning, sourcing, preparing, and serving school meals, had to rapidly convert their usual on-site meal service operations to more flexible and mobile strategies to distribute meals to students More

Federal Nutrition Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: SNAP

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The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges and exacerbated existing barriers faced by SNAP participants and administrators, such as inequitable access to SNAP online purchasing, overburdened administrative staff and agency systems, and low digital literacy and technology deficits. In response, SNAP online purchasing increased rapidly by March 2021, and program flexibilities and waivers allowed states to More

Federal Nutrition Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: WIC

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In response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act authorized USDA to approve waivers, requested by WIC state agencies and Tribal Nations, which would ensure WIC benefit access for families already participating in the program, as well as newly eligible families. These waivers and flexibilities provided researchers a More

Content Analysis of Online Grocery Retail Policies and Practices Affecting Healthy Food Access

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This study aimed to describe policies and practices of online grocery retailers that may affect healthy food access, including retailers participating in the US Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Online Purchasing Pilot. It used a cross-sectional, quantitative content analysis of 21 online grocery retail websites from November 2019 to January 2020. Most retailers More

USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Criteria

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This brief provides the results of an analysis of WIC vendor selection and authorization criteria, and operations and management policies established by the 89 administrative agencies in the United States. This study is the first to compile and examine a database of WIC vendor selection and authorization criteria, and operations and management policies established by More