Availability of Food Options and Nutrition Education in Local Food Pantries

Objective: Explore the availability of food options and nutrition education at food pantries and identify the barriers to offering them to pantry clients.

Design: Cross-sectional, mixed-methods study.

Setting: Food pantry, Cincinnati, OH.

Participants: A total of 41 food pantry coordinators (aged 63.4 ± 9.1 years), recruited by e-mail/phone in an urban area.

Phenomenon of interest: Availability of food options and nutrition education and barriers to improving food options and providing nutrition education at food pantries.

Analysis: Survey data were collected using Qualtrics and analyzed using SPSS software. In-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim, transcripts were independently coded, and codes and themes were discussed until a consensus was reached.

Results: The availability of fresh produce, dairy, low-sodium canned vegetables, and whole grains were limited, and 10 food pantries (24%) offered nutrition education to their clients. Challenges to improving food options were lack of space and equipment for storage and transportation. Identified barriers to providing nutrition education included the lack of space, funding, personnel with nutrition expertise, and clients' low interest in nutrition education.

Conclusions and implications: The availability of healthy food choices and nutrition education were limited at local food pantries. Collaborative efforts with community partners and nutrition experts may be necessary to overcome those barriers.