Annotated Bibliography
Simmet, A., Depa, J., Tinnemann, P., & Stroebele-Benschop, N. (2017). The Nutritional Quality
of Food Provided from Food Pantries: A Systematic Review of Existing
Literature. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(4), 577-588.
This article shows how in many affluent countries food insecure households use food pantries to keep their family fed. Since some families can use this way of eating for such a long period of time, they review to see the nutritional quality of the food. The results from this review was that the nutritional quality of the food bags varied between each one. Also, Milk products, vitamin A and C, and calcium were in low amounts. In conclusion Food pantries have a very strong influence on the diets of other but the selected study showed that they did not support very healthy diet. They said that if food pantries distributed more perishable food this would increase a healthy diet in the population and there is a strong possibility that it could address malnutrition in population groups.
Farahbakhsh, J., Hanbazaza, M., Ball, G., Farmer, A., Maximova, K., & Willows, N. (2017).
Food insecure student clients of a university‐based food bank have compromised health, dietary intake and academic quality. Nutrition & Dietetics, 74(1), 67-73.
College students and Universities of 58 students completed a survey about food insecurity and how it may compromise student’s health, diet, and academic quality. There finding were that the students were not getting the proper food/quality of food that they think would benefit their quality of life. In the article they stated that governmental and university-based programs and policies need to improve in order for the students to feel confident get the proper nutrients from their food. In Canada the U.S and Australia, food insecurity affects the financially disadvantaged groups. It carries over to the post-secondary students attending the universities and community colleges. Most of the participating students were food insecure. Even know they are using charitable food assistance programs they still continue to limit their food intake because of the financial resource constraints. So, this means they are consuming less fruits and vegetables and more pre-packaged, non-perishable foods.
King, R., Warren, C., Cureton, C., Hoolihan, C., Grannon, K., & Nanney, M. (2016). How
Healthy Is Hunger Relief Food? American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 98(2), 533-548.
While healthy food being distributed is an important goal for most hunger relief agencies it is not always the easiest to meet. The money resources are very limited and most of the food is donated or the budget is not set high enough to get the best nutritional quality for food. Most agency are trying to get as much food as possible with the money they have so they are using go for whatever is the cheapest. The food in food banks can change frequently and many food banks distribute mixed pallets of free “miscellaneous” food that cannot easily be mapped to the USDA food codes. The Hunger Relief Nutrition Index facilitates nutritional assessment of miscellaneous foods and allows for easily accessible healthfulness scores across food sources and time periods. In a fifteen-month study of two food banks it was shown the data scores of the food on the shelves was not to the standards of being healthy.
Seligman, H., Lyles, C., Marshall, M., Prendergast, K., Smith, M., Headings, A., . . . Waxman,
- (2015). A Pilot Food Bank Intervention Featuring Diabetes-Appropriate Food Improved Glycemic Control Among Clients In Three States. Health Affairs (Project Hope),34(11), 1956-63.
Individuals with food insecurity are living a lifestyle that can be a risk factor for poor diabetes control. There are not many interventions to address this important factor. Before conducting the study, they believe that food pantries would be a great place to start incorporating free diabetes appropriate food to individuals how are in low income communities. They enrolled over 650 food pantry clients with diabetes, and provided them with diabetes appropriate food, blood sugar monitoring, primary care referral and self-management support. The improvements in the clients over a six-month pilot intervention was a step into seeing that this could be successful. There results were that even know a food pantry is not the best setting to individualize one’s specific needs but suggests a promising health promotion model for vulnerable populations. But may not be effective in some pantries because they can’t gain access to those specific resources.
Elmes, M., Mendoza-Abarca, K., & Hersh, R. (2016). Food Banking, Ethical Sensemaking, and
Social Innovation in an Era of Growing Hunger in the United States. Journal of Management Inquiry, 25(2), 122-138.
This article considers that food bank leaders play in sensemaking around ethical and justice dimensions of hunger and food related illnesses in the United States. This serves as a starting point for understanding how some food bank leader in the United States have been triggered to engage in ethical sensemaking. If trigger points raise questions about the food banks role in addressing growing hunger, food bank leaders may experience ambiguity that prevents them from assigning meaning to the issues in a way that is consistent. They believe that with the help of other food banks coming together that they can offer important insights into innovative practices that address hunger in the United States.
Dimitri, C., Oberholtzer, L., Zive, M., & Sandolo, C. (2015). Enhancing food security of low-
income consumers: An investigation of financial incentives for use at farmers markets. Food Policy, 52, 64-70.
Recently, some select local government and nonprofit organizations have been offering federal nutrition beneficiary’s vouchers, for the use at farmers market. This is to get fresh fruits and vegetables. They conduct a study of 300 economically disadvantage women in the United States to see if their levels of consumption of fresh produce increased. The women who already visited food banks and pantries and limited access to the farmers market were the most likely to drop out. The women with low levels of fresh produce consumption and low levels of education that did stay in the study, there vegetable consumption increased significantly. This can be an obstacle with already a low income and not a lot of resources to get fresh produce. Running to the pantry or food bank where you have always gone probably would be more convenient for that individual.
Bond, J. (2015). Food bank rewards volunteers with “pleasant” environment. Modern Materials
Handling, 70(5), 54.
The Second Harvest Food Bank is a not-for-profit clearing house that collects, stores and distributes dry and frozen surplus food. They are trying to improve the working conditions for their volunteers. Each year the Food Bank is growing which mean more food is being brought out and more volunteers are being needed. They are trying to assure that the organization storage facility is up to par and keeping the volunteers happy. They endured loud noises and cold gust from the freezers and coolers. They tested out to see if this curtain wall would help to keep the temperature controlled when needed and it did. This shows that as an organization is growing that you make sure to take care of the volunteers and others who are helping to make everything go as smoothly as possible.
Wetherill, M., White, K., & Seligman, H. (2019). Nutrition-Focused Food Banking in the United
States: A Qualitative Study of Healthy Food Distribution Initiatives. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119(10), 1653-1665.
In the United States nutrition-focused food bank is defined as organizational and programmatic efforts to address nutrition-related health disparities amount charitable food clients. They conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews to elicit information about nutrition-focused food banking practices and processes being employed by the United States food banks. They found through the study that food banks are implementing a variety of multilevel approaches to improve healthy food access among users of charitable food system. But they believe that further evaluation is needed to see if the effectiveness in reducing determinants of nutrition-related health disparities. With more community involvement and nutrition education outreach this would help expanding community partners.
Loopstra, R., Fledderjohann, J., Reeves, A., & Stuckler, D. (2018). Impact of Welfare Benefit
Sanctioning on Food Insecurity: A Dynamic Cross-Area Study of Food Bank Usage in the UK. Journal of Social Policy, 47(3), 437-457.
Prendergast, C. (2017). How Food Banks Use Markets to Feed the Poor. The Journal of
Economic Perspectives, 31(4), 145-162.