Restaurant kids’ meal beverage offerings before and after implementation of healthy default beverage policy statewide in California compared with citywide in Wilmington, Delaware

In 2019, California and Wilmington, Delaware implemented policies requiring healthier default beverages with restaurant kids’ meals. The current study assessed restaurant beverage offerings and manager perceptions. Pre-implementation, the most common kids’ meal beverages on California menus were unflavored milk and water (78·8 %, 52·0 %); in Wilmington, juice, milk and sugar-sweetened beverages were most common More

Healthy default beverage policies for kids’ meals: A statewide baseline assessment of restaurant managers’ perceptions and knowledge in Delaware

This study evaluated restaurant managers’ knowledge and support of a healthy default beverage policy in Delaware that had passed, but not yet gone into effect. We conducted structured in-person interviews with managers (n = 50) from full-service and quick-service chain and non-chain restaurants (QSRs) using a stratified random sample. Managers were interviewed about the number More

Drinking water access in California schools: Room for improvement following implementation of school water policies

This study aimed to investigate how access to free drinking water in California public schools changed after implementation of 2010 federal and state school water policies. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted with administrators in a random sample of California public schools, stratified by school type and urban-centric geography, from 2010 to 2011 (n = 240) More

Urban School Food Infrastructure: Current Issues, Challenges, and Solutions

In the next year, an estimated 1 in 4 children will experience food insecurity (up from 1 in 6, pre-pandemic), disproportionately impacting children in low-income households and racial/ethnic minorities. To mediate loss of school meals during closures and reduce COVID-19 exposure, Congress authorized the USDA to permit local education authorities to apply approaches from the More

Assessing the Implementation of Kids’ Meals Healthy Default Beverage Policies in the State of California and City of Wilmington, Del.

Healthy default beverage (HDB) policies are one policy approach to limiting kids’ sugary drink consumption and encouraging healthier beverage consumption. These policies specifically require restaurants to offer only healthier drinks (e.g., water, milk, 100% juice) instead of sugary drinks as the default options with kids’ meals, a combination of food and drink items sold as More

Voluntary Kids’ Meal Beverage Standards: Are They Sufficient to Ensure Healthier Restaurant Practices and Consumer Choices?

Many quick-service restaurants (QSRs) instituted voluntary kids’ meal default beverage standards (standards) between 2013 to 2017. Little is known about impacts of standards on QSR drive-through practices and on customer choices. This study assessed differences in restaurant practices including kids’ meal beverages shown on menu boards, offered by cashiers, and selected by customers in QSRs More

Providing actionable evidence for equity-focused strategies to improve diet quality and food security for low-income pregnant women and for infants

Households with children ages 6 and younger are at a particularly high risk of food insecurity (14.3% food insecure). These are also the households in which new pregnancies are most likely to occur. The Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is designed to improve the health of low-income pregnant and post-partum women, More

Implementing and evaluating the impact for children from birth to age 5 of expanding the Cash-Value Benefit for the purchase of fruits and vegetables

The $9/month Cash Value Benefit (CVB) provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is only enough to purchase less than one-quarter of a child’s daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables. The primary aim of this project is to implement and evaluate an expansion of the monthly Cash Value More

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

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