Start Date: April 2020

ID #: CAS058

Organization: Centers for Science in the Public Interest

Project Lead: Wootan M, Johnson J

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CSPI, in partnership with researchers from The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will conduct a comprehensive scan of policy, business, and legal factors that may support or hamper healthy food bank donations. Findings will be used, in conjunction with HER’s model food bank nutrition standards, to develop recommendations for advocates and policymakers and a model donation policy for grocery stores. The subrecipient will conduct a literature review of reports and policy recommendations from institutions like Harvard, Natural Resources Defense Council, and others that focus on reducing food waste and improving the safety of donated food. The fellow will then use Lexis to conduct a comprehensive scan of state and national policies that affect the nutritional quality of food bank donations. To better understand the potential impact of policy change on food donations, CSPI will examine corporate food donation policies and practices of 10 of the highest grossing U.S. retailers. These include Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Ahold Delhaize, Publix, H.E.B., Wakefern, Amazon, Aldi, and Meijer. CSPI will also conduct 10-20 semi-structured interviews with food company executives, anti-hunger experts, food bank directors and operations staff, researchers, members of HER’s expert panel on food bank nutrition standards, and other stakeholders.

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