“Snack Right Health Vending Machines”: An Environmental Approach to Improve the Health of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)

Approximately half (55%) of Los Angeles county adults are either overweight or obese. Addressing overweight and obesity through healthy eating is of vital importance in reducing morbidity and mortality. An environmental assessment was conducted in the spring of 2007 to establish guidelines for all CSULB vending machine food and beverage items offered on any CSULB property in an effort to increase healthy options for CSULB faculty, staff, and students. The environmental assessment consisted of mapping vending machine locations, nutritional evaluation of current offerings in campus vending machines, survey of student preferences for items sold, and a review of the current literature. It was identified that healthy options in campus vending machines do not meet the current standards used to evaluate vending machines in other learning environments such as junior/senior high schools. Recommendations include: 1) more healthy options need to be made available (50% of items should be required to have < 35% of its calories from total fat and < 10% of its calories from saturated fat). 2) items meeting the established nutrition standards must be sold at a price that is equivalent to or lower than the price of those items within the vending machine that do not meet recommended nutritional standards. The top third of all machines must be stocked with items that satisfy the nutrition standards. 3) Labeling: visible point-of-decision prompts should be provided at each location in the form of posters, stickers, or cards that inform customers of the health benefits of making healthy food/beverage selections.