Perceptions and Experiences of Universal School Meals in California: Qualitative Insights From School Food Authorities on Participation, Stigma, and Operational Benefits and Challenges.

Background: Universal school meals (USM) aim to eliminate barriers to school meal access by providing free meals to all students regardless of family income. During the COVID-19 pandemic, US Department of Agriculture waivers allowed schools nationwide to offer meals free of charge to all students. Although USM have demonstrated positive effects on student health and participation, limited research has focused on the perspectives of the foodservice directors (FSDs) who manage them.

Perceived Influence of a State-Level Universal Free School Meal Policy on Households With Varying Income Levels: An Analysis of Parental Perspectives.

Background: In the United States, a means-tested approach is often used to provide free or reduced-price meals (FRPM) to students from lower-income households. However, federal income thresholds do not account for regional cost of living variations. Thus, many ineligible households may be at risk for food insecurity.

The Benefits and Challenges of Providing School Meals during the First Year of California's Universal School Meal Policy as Reported by School Foodservice Professionals.

States in the U.S. are newly implementing universal school meal (USM) policies, yet little is known about the facilitators of their success and the challenges they confront.

Parent perceptions of school meals and how perceptions differ by race and ethnicity.

Parental perceptions of school meals can affect student participation and overall support for school meal policies. Little is known about parental school meal perceptions under universal free school meals (UFSM) policies. We assessed California parents' perceptions of school meals during the COVID-19 emergency response with federally funded UFSM and whether perceptions differed by race/ethnicity.

Universal School Meals During the Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Parent Perceptions From California and Maine.

Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Congress authorized the US Department of Agriculture to waive a variety of school meal regulations and funded school meals daily for all students at no charge regardless of family income. Because federal Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) ended with the 2021-2022 school year, several states, including California and Maine, adopted state-level UFSM policies.

Objective: This study aimed to understand parent perceptions of school meals and the federal and new state UFSM policies in California and Maine, including potential challenges and benefits to students and households.

School Meals for All: A Qualitative Study Exploring Lessons in Successful Advocacy and Policymaking in Maine and California.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic focused national attention on food insecurity, equity, and the role of school meal programs in supporting children, families, and communities. In doing so, the pandemic created a rare policy window-an opportunity to advance a longstanding public health goal of guaranteed access to free school meals for all students. In July 2021, California and Maine became the first states to authorize school meal for all legislation (also known as universal free meals).

Competitive Foods' Nutritional Quality and Compliance with Smart Snacks Standards: An Analysis of a National Sample of U.S. Middle and High Schools.

Snacks and beverages are often sold in addition to meals in U.S. schools ("competitive foods"), but their current nutritional quality and compliance with national Smart Snacks standards are unknown.

Reducing Student Exposure to Digital Food and Beverage Marketing: Policy and Practice Recommendations.

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents is pervasive, highly effective, undermines healthy eating, and contributes to health inequities. Expanded use of electronic devices and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency for policy interventions to limit digital food marketing in schools and on school-issued devices. The US Department of Agriculture provides little guidance to schools for how to address digital food marketing.

Implementation of Universal School Meals during COVID-19 and beyond: Challenges and Benefits for School Meals Programs in Maine.

School meals play a major role in supporting children's diets and food security, and policies for universal school meals (USM) have the potential to contribute to positive child health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools provided free school meals to all students in the United States, but this national USM policy ended in school year (SY) 2022-2023; however, a few states have adopted policies to continue USM statewide for SY 2022-2023. Research examining the challenges and strategies for successful continuation of USM is essential, along with studying pandemic-related challenges that are likely to persist in schools.

Assessment of Calories Purchased After Calorie Labeling of Prepared Foods in a Large Supermarket Chain.

Importance: Calorie labels for prepared (ie, ready-to-eat) foods are required in large chain food establishments in the US. Large evaluations in restaurants suggest small declines in purchases of prepared foods after labeling, but to the authors' knowledge, no studies have examined how this policy influences supermarket purchases.

Objective: To estimate changes in calories purchased from prepared foods and potential packaged substitutes compared with control foods after calorie labeling of prepared foods in supermarkets.

Parents' Perceptions of Privacy Policies and Practices for School-Issued Digital Devices: Implications for School Practices.

Background: Digital technology is becoming a central component of schooling. We measured parents perceptions of their children's digital privacy on school-issued digital devices.

Methods: We surveyed 571 parents of K-12th grade children, recruited nationally, regarding their child's use of school-issued devices.

Changes in the calorie and nutrient content of purchased fast food meals after calorie menu labeling: A natural experiment.

Background: Calorie menu labeling is a policy that requires food establishments to post the calories on menu offerings to encourage healthy food choice. Calorie labeling has been implemented in the United States since May 2018 per the Affordable Care Act, but to the best of our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the relationship between calorie labeling and meal purchases since nationwide implementation of this policy. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between calorie labeling and the calorie and nutrient content of purchased meals after a fast food franchise began labeling in April 2017, prior to the required nationwide implementation, and after nationwide implementation of labeling in May 2018, when all large US chain restaurants were required to label their menus.

Comparing Online and In-Store Grocery Purchases.

Objective: To describe the grocery shopping patterns of people who shopped both online and in-store and evaluate whether shoppers purchased fewer unhealthy, impulse-sensitive items online.

Design: Secondary analysis of 44 weeks of grocery transaction data collected for fruit and vegetable incentive trials in 2 Maine supermarkets.

Participants: A total of 137 primary household shoppers who shopped at least once in-store and online (curbside pickup) for 5,573 total transactions MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES AND ANALYSIS: Paired t tests and descriptive analyses compared online and in-store transactions with respect to frequency, total spending, number of items purchased, and spending on 10 food groups and 34 subgroups.

Calorie Labeling and Product Reformulation: A Longitudinal Analysis of Supermarket-Prepared Foods.

Introduction: The 2010 Affordable Care Act required chain retail food establishments, including supermarkets, to post calorie information for prepared (i.e., ready to eat) foods.

Comparing shopper characteristics by online grocery ordering use among households in low-income communities in Maine.

Objective: Online grocery shopping could improve access to healthy food, but it may not be equally accessible to all populations - especially those at higher risk for food insecurity. The current study aimed to compare the socio-demographic characteristics of families who ordered groceries online v. those who only shopped in-store.

Evaluating the implementation and impact of a healthier checkout programme at a regional convenience store chain.

Objective: To test the feasibility of implementing and evaluating a healthier checkout pilot study in a convenience store chain.

Design: A quasi-experimental study was conducted comparing a 3-month 'healthier checkouts' intervention in ten convenience stores which stocked eight healthier items in the checkout space and ten comparison stores assigned to continue stocking their current checkout space product mix. All aspects of the intervention were implemented by the retailer.

Supermarket Purchases Over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefit Month: A Comparison Between Participants and Nonparticipants.

Introduction: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides financial assistance for food and beverage purchases to approximately 1 in 7 Americans, with benefits distributed once monthly. Most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are spent early in the month, leading to decreased caloric intake later in the month. The effects of this early benefit depletion on the types of foods and beverages purchased over the course of the month is unclear.

Estimating the effect of calorie menu labeling on calories purchased in a large restaurant franchise in the southern United States: quasi-experimental study.

Objective: To evaluate whether calorie labeling of menus in large restaurant chains was associated with a change in mean calories purchased per transaction.

Design: Quasi-experimental longitudinal study.

Setting: Large franchise of a national fast food company with three different restaurant chains located in the southern United States (Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi) from April 2015 until April 2018.

Financial Incentives Increase Purchases Of Fruit And Vegetables Among Lower-Income Households With Children.

The high cost of fruit and vegetables can be a barrier to healthy eating, particularly among lower-income households with children. We examined the effects of a financial incentive on purchases at a single supermarket by primary shoppers from low-income households who had at least one child. Participation in an in-store Cooking Matters event was requested for incentivized subjects but optional for their nonincentivized controls.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Stakeholder Evaluation of 2 Obesity Prevention Policies in Maine, US.

Objective: To evaluate the potential cost-effectiveness of and stakeholder perspectives on a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise tax and a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) policy that would not allow SSB purchases in Maine, US.

Design: A cost-effectiveness simulation model combined with stakeholder interviews.

Setting: Maine, US.

Digital Food and Beverage Marketing Environments in a National Sample of Middle Schools: Implications for Policy and Practice.

Background: One promising approach to influence nutrition behavior is to limit food and beverage marketing to children. Children are a lucrative market and schools may be an effective setting in which to intervene. Studies have shown that marketing in schools is prevalent but little is known about digital marketing (DM) to students in the school setting.

Make It Fresh, for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a supermarket meal bundling and electronic reminder intervention on food choices of families with children.

Design: Quasi-experimental (meal bundling) and randomized, controlled trial (electronic reminders).

Setting: Large supermarket in Maine during 40-week baseline and 16-week intervention periods in 2015-2016.

What factors influence ultra-processed food purchases and consumption in households with children? A comparison between participants and non-participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Ultra-processed foods are industrially formulated products that are convenient, highly-palatable, and contain few whole ingredients. While popular among US households regardless of SES, these foods constitute a relatively large proportion of grocery spending among low-income households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Little is understood about the perceived factors influencing selection and consumption of these foods, particularly among households with children participating in SNAP.