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Foods and Drinks Available from Urban Food Pantries: Nutritional Quality by Item Type, Sourcing, and Distribution Method

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Abstract

The overall nutritional quality of foods/drinks available at urban food pantries is not well established. In a study of 50 pantries listed as operating in the Bronx, NY, data on food/drink type (fresh, shelf-stable, refrigerated/frozen) came from direct observation. Data on food/drink sourcing (food bank or other) and distribution (prefilled bag vs. client choice for a given client’s position in line) came from semi-structured interviews with pantry workers. Overall nutritional quality was determined using NuVal® scores (range 1–100; higher score indicates higher nutritional quality). Twenty-nine pantries offered zero nutrition at listed times (actually being closed or having no food/drinks in stock). Of the 21 pantries that were open as listed and had foods/drinks to offer, 12 distributed items in prefilled bags (traditional pantries), 9 allowed for client choice. Mean NuVal® scores were higher for foods/drinks available from client-choice pantries than traditional pantries (69.3 vs. 57.4), driven mostly by sourcing fresh items (at 28.3% of client-choice pantries vs. 4.8% of traditional pantries). For a hypothetical ‘balanced basket’ of one of each fruit, vegetable, grain, dairy and protein item, highest-NuVal® items had a mean score of 98.8 across client-choice pantries versus 96.6 across traditional pantries; lowest-NuVal® items had mean scores of 16.4 and 35.4 respectively. Pantry workers reported lower-scoring items (e.g., white rice) were more popular—appeared in early bags or were selected first—leaving higher-scoring items (e.g., brown rice) for clients later in line. Fewer than 50% of sampled pantries were open and had food/drink to offer at listed times. Nutritional quality varied by item type and sourcing and could also vary by distribution method and client position in line. Findings suggest opportunities for pantry operation, client and staff education, and additional research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Sarah O’Connor, RD, Manager of Imputation and Scoring, NuVal® LLC, for her assistance in providing nutrition scores for the food and drink items available at sampled food pantries.

Funding

SCL is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award K23HD079606. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Student stipends through the Albert Einstein College of Medicine supported data collection. For data management, the study used REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted through the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore under Grant UL1 TR001073.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Montefiore Health System, Bronx, NY, USA

    Alexander D. Bryan

  2. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Zoë A. Ginsburg

  3. Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ellen B. Rubinstein

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Hilary J. Frankel

  5. Department of Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Bronx, NY, USA

    Andrew R. Maroko

  6. Department of Family and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Health System, 1300 Morris Park Ave, Block Building, Room 408, Bronx, NY, 10461-1900, USA

    Clyde B. Schechter & Sean C. Lucan

  7. UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, USA

    Kristen Cooksey Stowers

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  1. Alexander D. Bryan
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  8. Sean C. Lucan
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Contributions

SCL conceived the study, designed the data-collection tool and protocol, oversaw primary data collection, performed analyses, outlined introduction and discussion sections, and drafted methods and results sections, including tables and figures. ADB led the literature review and contributed to the writing of the introduction and discussion sections. ZAG and HJF conducted primary data collection. ARM created maps for figures and contributed to data capture for Fig. 1. CBS oversaw and assisted with data analysis. EBR contributed to data interpretation and writing. KCS provided guidance on study planning, and contributed to the literature review, data analysis, and writing. All authors helped revise the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sean C. Lucan.

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Conflict of interest

None of the other authors have any disclosures.

Ethical Approval

This study was considered exempt under federal regulations 45 CFR 46.101 (b) (2,4) and Einstein IRB policy.

Appendix

Appendix

See Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Food pantries in the southern Bronx included in and excluded from the study sample. aNorthern and Sothern Bronx defined by aggregates of zip codes http://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/EPHTPDF/uhf34.pdf. bAccording to a 2014 online listing from the Food Bank for NYC: http://www.foodbanknyc.org/CD6F9867-926E-0C0F-558E6A7EC4762F9E?city=Bronx&CatCode=PANTRY&go.x=25&go.y=23&go=go

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Fig. 3
figure 3

Data-collection tool for food and drink assessments at food pantries. Data-collection items specific to pantry facilities and operations (including whether pantries distributed foods and drinks using prefilled bags or client choice) appear in an Appendix to another paper [26]

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Fig. 4
figure 4

Montage of food and drink images from food pantries in the southern Bronx, 2014

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See Tables 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Table 4 Type, sources, and nutrition quality of foods and drinks from Bronx food pantries using traditional prefilled bags (n = 12 pantries); foods reportedly available to clients near the front of the line
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Table 5 Type, sources, and nutrition quality of foods and drinks from Bronx food pantries using traditional prefilled bags (n = 12 pantries); foods reportedly available to clients near the back of the line
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Table 6 Type, sources, and nutrition quality of foods and drinks from Bronx food pantries for using ‘client choice’ (n = 9 pantries); foods reportedly available to clients near the front of the line
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Table 7 Type, sources, and nutrition quality of foods and drinks from Bronx food pantries for using ‘client choice’ (n = 9 pantries); foods reportedly available to clients near the back of the line
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Table 8 Highest, median, and lowest-nutrition items, and best and worst-case nutritional quality for a ‘balanced basket’a from Bronx food pantries (n = 21)b
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Bryan, A.D., Ginsburg, Z.A., Rubinstein, E.B. et al. Foods and Drinks Available from Urban Food Pantries: Nutritional Quality by Item Type, Sourcing, and Distribution Method. J Community Health 44, 339–364 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0592-z

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