Impact of Fresh Shelves, Healthy Pantries; a Feasibility Trial Using Policy, Educational and Environmental Strategies in Baltimore City Food Pantries

To date, no intervention has attempted to improve the availability and accessibility of healthful options at food pantries in Baltimore. Our objective is to: 1) test the feasibility of various policy, educational and environmental strategies to improve the stocking and distribution of healthy options at food pantries, 2) assess the impact of a food pantry-based nutrition intervention at the pantry and client levels. 2 small, 2 medium, and 3 large pantries were randomly selected from Maryland Food Bank’s community-based network partners in Baltimore (n = 102) out of eligible and interested pantries. 1 small, 1 medium and 1 large pantry received intervention in 3 phases, each focusing on one food group: lean & low-sodium proteins; fruits & vegetables; healthy carbohydrates. Each phase used policy (stocking guidelines and switch to client choice distribution), educational (trainings for pantry staff; taste tests and cooking demos for clients), environmental strategies (shelf rearrangement; print materials for clients). Intervention had medium reach, high dose delivered, and high fidelity. Pantry-level impact was measured via variety scores for the 3 promoted food groups using data from Food Pantry Environmental Checklist. Client-level impact was measured via Food Assortment Scoring Tool scores for client bags. Paired t-tests were used to assess differences between intervention and comparison groups. For lean & low-sodium proteins, the difference in variety scores between post-intervention and baseline was 6.00 +/–5.29 for intervention pantries, and –1.00 +/–5.03 for comparison pantries (P = 0.13). For fruits & vegetables, the difference in variety scores between post-intervention and baseline was 1.67 +/–7.51 for intervention pantries, and 3.25 +/–7.46 for comparison pantries (P = 0.80). For healthy carbohydrates, the difference in variety scores between post-intervention and baseline was 5.33 +/–9.50 for intervention pantries, and 1.75 +/–6.50 for comparison pantries (P = 0.61). Policy, educational and environmental strategies may increase the stocking of some healthful options at Baltimore food pantries. The impact of feasible strategies should be studied with a larger sample size to reach statistically significant conclusions. Johns Hopkins University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion.