UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

When school is out of session, students lose access to school meals and are more likely to experience food insufficiency. The USDA summer meal programs seek to fill this gap by providing free meals and snacks to children in eligible community settings. However, compared to participation in school meals, participation in summer meals is extremely low – in summer 2019, just 13.8% of children participating in school meals received a summer meal. 

This policy brief examines the impact of pandemic-era waivers for summer meal programs in 2020 and beyond. Further, it provides policy recommendations to improve access to nutritious meals for children when school is out of session.

The US Department of Agriculture’s school meal programs have wide reach during the school year, but food insufficiency among households with children increases during summer months. The US Department of Agriculture summer meal programs are designed to fill this gap, yet participation has historically been low.

Using a mixed-methods approach that examined both participants and non-participants, this study explores the facilitators and barriers to participation in a 2021 summer meal program while the COVID-19 pandemic regulation waivers were in place.

Full citation: Bennett, B. L., McKee, S. L., Burkholder, K., Chafouleas, S. M., & Schwartz, M. B. (2023). USDA’s Summer Meals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods examination of participants and non-participants in 2021. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.07.015

This observational study evaluates (1) improvements in energy and individual nutrient composition of products that companies indicated may be advertised to children (i.e., CFBAI‑listed products) in 2020 versus 2017, (2) amount of advertising on children’s TV for CFBAI‑listed versus other products in 2021, and 3) the nutrition quality of advertised versus non‑advertised CFBAI‑listed products. Despite revised nutrition standards and improvements in nutrient content of some product categories, participating companies continued to primarily advertise nutritionally poor food and beverages on children’s TV.

Full citation: Jensen, M.L., Fleming-Milici, F. & Harris, J.L. (2023). Are U.S. food and beverage companies now advertising healthy products to children on television? An evaluation of improvements in industry self-regulation, 2017–2021. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 20, 118 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01517-y

Summer nutrition programs have been crucial in reducing childhood food insecurity over the summer for over 50 years. 

In 2020, the federal government issued regulatory waivers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow more sponsors to offer summer meals. Waivers also provided flexibility in meal times, non-congregate meal distribution, and parent/guardian meal pickup. Although waivers were technically available in 2022, Congress did not extend them until late June of that year – far too late for most sites to implement these changes.

This report analyzes meal counts from summer meal programs in Connecticut between 2019 to 2023 to highlight the impact that these waivers had on participation.

In this editorial, the authors describes the impact of ultra-processed foods (UPF) on health outcomes and inequalities, and validates, even more, UPF as an indicator in diet-related studies. Moreover, five articles focused on the effect of UPF specifically on health-related outcomes are introduced.

Full citation: Cediel, G., Mendonça, R., Meireles, A., Leite, M. A., Gombi-Vaca, M., & Rauber, F. Ultra-Processed Foods and Human and Planetary Health. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, 1297262. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1297262

Parental communication about body weight can influence children’s emotional well-being and eating behaviors. However, little is known about the role of parental self-stigma concerning weight and social position variables (ie, race/ethnicity, income, and gender) in weight communication. This study examined how parents’ self-stigmatization for their own weight (ie, weight bias internalization) and self-stigmatization for their child’s weight (ie, affiliate stigma) relates to weight talk frequency with their children, and whether these associations vary across parental race/ethnicity, income, and gender.

Full citation: Pudney, E. V., Puhl, R. M., Halgunseth, L. C., & Schwartz, M. B. (2023). An Examination of Parental Weight Stigma and Weight Talk Among Socioeconomically and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Parents. The Journal of Health Promotion and Maintenance. https://doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0000000000000384

This study presents results of a midpoint analysis of an ongoing natural experiment evaluating the diet-related effects of the Minneapolis Minimum Wage Ordinance, which incrementally increases the minimum wage to $15/hr. Participants included a cohort of 580 low-wage workers (268 in Minneapolis, 312 in Raleigh) who completed three annual study visits between 2018 and 2020. There were no statistically significant differences in variables of interest in Minneapolis compared with Raleigh. Trends across both cities were evident, showing a steady increase in hourly wage, stable body mass index, an overall decrease in food insecurity, and non-linear trends in employment, hours worked, SNAP participation, and dietary outcomes.

Full citation: Caspi, C. E., Gombi-Vaca, M. F., Wolfson, J., Harnack, L. J., De Marco, M., Pratt, R., Durfee, T., & Myers, S. (2023). Early Results of a Natural Experiment Evaluating the Effects of a Local Minimum Wage Policy on the Diet-Related Health of Low-Wage Workers, 2018-2020. Public Health Nutrition, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980023001520

This report describes the relationship between school wellness policies (measured by the WellSAT 3.0) and practices (measured by the WellSAT-I) across 110 Connecticut school districts, as reported in their Triennial Assessments.

Many teachers and staff use food to influence student behavior. Yet, using food as a reward has many negative consequences. In this educational handout, the UConn Rudd Center recommends the following based on their research: make it easy for school staff to find alternative rewards to address student behavior; revise the district wellness policy to prohibit food rewards so that everyone understands; educate school staff on the negative consequences of using food as a reward.

This scoping review summarized findings and key measures from U.S.-based studies that 1) examined associations between geographic indicators of structural racism (e.g., redlining, racial segregation) and access to food retailers (e.g., supermarkets, convenience stores) or 2) documented disparities in access by neighborhood racial/ethnic composition. All studies featuring indicators of structural racism reported significant findings; however, indicators varied across studies making it difficult to make direct comparisons. Key indicators of structural racism in the food access literature included redlining (n = 3), gentrification (n = 3), and racial segregation (n = 4). Moving forward, studies should model indicators of structural racism and determine their influence on geographic access to large and small food retailers.

Full citation: Singleton, C. R., Wright, L. A., McDonald, M., Archer, I. G., Bell, C. N., McLoughlin, G. M., Houghtaling, B., Cooksey Stowers, K., & Steeves, E. A. (2023). Structural racism and geographic access to food retailers in the United States: A scoping review. Health & Place, 83, 103089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103089