This project will develop and test tools to help food banks and food pantries rank food nutritionally through implementation of the Healthy Eating Research Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System (HER guidelines). The objectives are to: 1) Revise existing SWAP materials to align with the new HER guidelines and develop new materials to complete a suite of tools to help food banks and pantries rank food nutritionally; 2) Recruit eight food banks to pilot test the materials, both within the food banks and within a sample of food pantries in their network; 3) Conduct a process evaluation to measure the adoption, feasibility, and fidelity of the new tools; and 4) Identify challenges and successes with implementation. The tools resulting from this project will be included in Feeding America’s toolkit of resources available to help food banks fully implement the HER guidelines. The subrecipient will produce a website with revised and tested SWAP resources, revised posters and training materials, a readiness checklist, an FAQ document, and a draft report summarizing project findings.
Related Research
September 2021
Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) Toolkit 2021
SWAP was developed in 2016 and revised in 2020 to align with the Healthy Eating Research Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System. Revised tools include: SWAP Toolkit SWAP and Alignment with the HER Nutrition Guidelines SWAP: Overview of a Stoplight Nutrition System for Food Banks and Food Pantries Steps for Getting Started Using SWAP MoreMay 2026
Ultraprocessed Foods in the U.S.: Recommended Definitions and Policies
Despite growing interest in ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), there is not consensus on how to define UPFs for policy purposes. To meet this need, Healthy Eating Research convened an expert panel to develop evidence-informed recommendations for policymakers and advocates interested in advancing policies to limit UPF exposure and consumption at the local, state, and federal levels. MoreApril 2026