Community-Wide Efforts to Improve the Consumer Food Environment and Physical Activity Resources in Rural Kentucky.

Community interventions to improve access to food and physical activity resources can reduce obesity rates and improve obesity-related health outcomes. We describe a Kentucky community project that consisted of collaborating with grocery store managers to improve the consumer food environment and partnering with community members to improve walking trails, bicycle racks, and other physical activity resources. We surveyed 2 random samples of community residents in 6 participating rural counties, 741 in 2016 (year 1) and 1,807 in 2017 (year 2).

Food safety perceptions and behaviors of Kentucky consumers.

In several areas, Kentuckians practice more risky health behaviors than most of the rest of the nation. The Health Belief Model states that individuals with lower perceived risks practice less healthy behaviors. This study sought to determine if this was true for food safety by assessing food safety perceptions and behaviors of Kentucky consumers.