Keyword: Commodity foods

Evaluation of U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods Programs for Households Using Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods programs for households are designed to provide nutritious foods at no cost to income-eligible individuals in the United States. Our aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of the foods available from 3 USDA Foods programs for households (ie, The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian More

Examining Links Between Tribal Food Policies and Community Health, With a Focus on Prevention of Childhood Obesity and Promotion of Healthy Eating

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This project will examine the linkages between tribal government food policies and tribal community health, with a focus on the impact of food policy on obesity prevention among children and adolescents and the promotion of healthy eating. This project aims to study and report on three primary issues: 1) tribal communities’ use of food sovereignty More

Is Scratch-Cooking a Cost-Effective Way to Prepare Healthy School Meals with U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods?

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This paper examines whether school lunch entrees made in a district from basic or raw U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods ingredients can be healthier and/or less expensive to prepare than those sent to external processers. Information on the nutritional content and cost to prepare entrees was gathered through interviews with school food service personnel and More

A Model to Drive Research-Based Policy Change: Improving the Nutritional Quality of Emergency Food

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This article discusses the process a nonprofit policy advocacy organization (California Food Policy Advocates) and an academic research center (Center for Weight and Health at University of California, Berkeley) went through to develop policy and practice recommendations aimed at improving the nutritional quality of emergency foods. In February 2012, these two organizations convened a one-day More

Improving the Nutritional Quality of Emergency Food: A Study of Food Bank Organizational Culture, Capacity, and Practices

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This paper highlights the results of a national online survey of 137 U.S. food banks and qualitative interviews with senior staff at six California food banks in 2011 regarding the current state of food banks’ nutrition-related organizational culture, capacity, and practices. Researchers found that the majority of U.S. food banks reported having a substantial level More

The Childhood Obesity Epidemic: Lessons Learned from Tobacco

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The large increases in the prevalence of cigarette smoking and obesity in the 20th century are associated with changes in tobacco and food products, as well as social and physical environments that support or discourage smoking, unhealthy dietary intake, and sedentary behaviors. This paper focuses on several of the primary factors responsible for the increase More

Do Farm Subsidies Cause Obesity? Dispelling Common Myths About Public Health and the Farm Bill

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It is often argued that farm subsidies have led to the overproduction of commodity crops, and removing these subsidies would help combat obesity by discouraging overproduction of crops that are the base ingredients of unhealthy foods. This white paper analyzes the public health and agricultural economic literature and primary and secondary agriculture policy documents to More

Assessing the Effects of the Federal Commodities Program on School Meals for Children in Lower-Income Communities

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It is important to examine how the national school meal programs, which feed roughly half the country’s school-age population every school day, can contribute to preventing childhood obesity. Although the USDA’s Child Nutrition Commodity Program offers many nutritious options to school districts, previous research has shown that schools primarily order foods high in fat that More

Planting the Seeds for Public Health: How the Farm Bill Can Help Farmers to Produce and Distribute Healthy Foods

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Resulting from a detailed legal analysis of the 2008 Farm Bill, this report finds that lack of information about yields and prices for fruits and vegetables has undermined farmers’ ability to make them more widely available and accessible. The report highlights the barriers the agriculture community faces in providing access to healthy foods, and provides More