Abstract
Using Child Care Regulations as a Policy Lever for Promoting Healthy Food and Physical Activity in Out-of-School Time Settings
Natasha Frost, JD
Public Health Law Center, St. Paul, MN
2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo (Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2015)
State child care regulations establish important baseline protections for health and safety of children in non-parental care, and can also play a critical role in establishing norms around nutrition and physical activity for children and youth. Many child care facilities also provide care for school age children and other out-of-school (OST) programs. But while many early learning settings are subject to regulations that include—or could include--nutrition and physical activity standards, many OST programs fall outside the scope of these regulations, or are only partially included. This session will examine the potential capacity and limits of using child care licensing laws to promote healthy eating and physical activity in OST programs. Building off the results of a 50 state review of child care licensing laws conducted in 2014 that identified nutrition, physical activity, and screen time standards in these laws, this session will describe how the research has been translated to support initiatives to implement healthy eating and physical activity standards for OST programs in Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, and Washington. Key results from the 50 state review will be highlighted to provide context. The approaches and strategies used by each state to leverage child care licensing as a policy tool will be explained. Lessons learned from each state’s initiative will be shared. Tensions between the goals of ensuring quality programming that promotes good nutrition and ample physical activity and ensuring affordable, accessible programs for as many children and youth as possible also will be discussed.
Chronic disease management and prevention Other professions or practice related to public health Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines Public health or related public policy Public health or related research
Abstract
Choosing to Be Healthy: Using Laws and Policies to Increase Access to Healthy Food Options in Mobile Food Shelves, Meal Programs, and other Emergency Food Services
Mary Marrow, JD
Public Health Law Center, St. Paul, MN
2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo (Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2015)
Many individuals and families rely on food shelves, meal programs, shelters, and other emergency food sources to meet their basic food needs. While the focus of these efforts is often on ending hunger, there is an increasing recognition of the need to provide healthy food and not just putting any food on the tables of those in needs. Emergency food sources often struggle to provide healthy food (fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, dairy, legumes, etc.) to their customers, even as customers increasingly ask for more nutritious food. Community groups are increasingly using policy and legal tools to increase the availability of healthy food to their customers. However, policy and legal issues can also be a barrier to efforts to increase healthy food.
This session provides an overview of new and emerging policy and legal tools that emergency food providers are using to increase access to healthy food for their customers, along with a discussion of some challenges faced when developing and implementing policy and legal initiatives in these settings. Some policy and legal tools being explored by emergency food providers include nutrition policies for donations and tax incentives for donations of local, fresh food. The discussion will draw on work with mobile and other food shelves, food banks, emergency meal programs, shelters, and other emergency food providers in Minnesota seeking to increase access to healthy food for low-income individuals and families.
Administration, management, leadership Chronic disease management and prevention Diversity and culture Program planning Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Abstract
Supporting Healthy Food Choices for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Jennifer L. Pomeranz, JD, MPH
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo (Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2015)
Formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation’s largest food assistance program, serving approximately 46 million people. SNAP is reauthorized by Congress pursuant to the Farm Bill and is administered jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state and local governments. Under the current version of SNAP, participants can purchase virtually any food or beverage (collectively, food). Research indicates that SNAP recipients may have a worse dietary quality than income-eligible nonparticipants. Policymakers have urged the USDA to pilot SNAP nutrition guidelines intended to support a healthier diet, and state legislators have proposed similar bills. The USDA rejected these invitations, stating that it would be administratively and logistically difficult to differentiate among products, among other concerns. However, the federal government currently designates foods as nutritious for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and many states distinguish among food items for taxation purposes. Further, legislators have proposed bills that would designate specific foods as ineligible for purchase with SNAP benefits. This legislative history is rich with workable definitions and administrative achievements that can provide a basis to test SNAP classifications among foods. This presentation will analyze how these bills and laws can inform future policy decisions. It will compare the scope of authority and limitations on the federal, state and local governments’ ability to pilot such changes and identify critical legal opportunities for Congress to revise SNAP to support the health of SNAP recipients.
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines Public health or related public policy
Abstract
Do the stakes in food safety inspections change outcomes for restaurants in court? The case of New York City's restaurant grading initiative
Diana Silver, PhD MPH1, Michah Rothbart, PhD Candidate1, Jin Yung Bae, JD1, Amy Schwartz, PhD1 and Tod Mijanovich, PhD
(1)New York University, New York, NY
2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo (Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2015)
Background: Raising the stakes of inspections for food safety violations in restaurants by mandating the posting of letter grades at point of sale is one strategy to increase compliance with restaurant inspection regulations. However, there is little evidence about the response of restaurants to the implementation of such programs.
Data: Food safety inspections (n=222,527) of New York City restaurants from December 1, 2007 through March 2, 2014 before and after the implementation of a public grading initiative. Observations, interviews and documents reviews of adjudication hearings are coded for insights into the adjudication process and used in interpreting quantitative findings
Methods: In a regression discontinuity design, OLS regression and linear probability models predict likelihood of changes in inspection scores and grades at adjudication before and after the program was implemented, controlling for city borough and restaurant size.
Results: Restaurants are more likely to have scores reduced and grades improve at adjudication on high stakes inspections that result in grade posting than low stakes inspections that do not. On average, restaurants are successful in getting violations reduced sufficiently to have their grades improve over 40% of the time. Adjudication outcomes for high stakes inspections are sensitive to violation score differences near grade cut-points, in contrast to low stakes inspections.
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines Public health or related public policy Public health or related research
Abstract
State Level Policy Pathways to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards in Out-of-School Time Programs
Julie Ralston Aoki, JD
William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, MN
2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo (Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2015)
Out-of-school (OST) environments are a key part of the spectrum of opportunities to reduce and prevent obesity in children. Implementation of nutrition and physical activity standards in OST settings complements school regulations and wellness policies, as well as healthy child development concepts embodied in state child care licensing laws. Yet, many OST programs are exempt from the nutrition and physical activity standards included in these regulatory schemes. Further, while OST programs share some of the needs and barriers as these settings in promoting nutrition and physical activity, they also present different challenges due to the variety of programs they encompass. This session will discuss key legal and self-regulatory policy levers available to promote statewide adoption of national consensus Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) Standards for OST settings developed by the National Institute for OST. One co-panelist will explain the HEPA standards, how they were developed, and how they are being implemented programmatically to provide context. Another co-panelist will discuss child care licensing laws as a lever for wider implementation, so this session will focus on other policy levers, including: creation of voluntary recognition programs such as California’s DASH law; inclusion in afterschool program funding stream requirements; integration of school age care into voluntary ratings systems for child care; and policies that promote community use of school facilities. Examples from states that are experimenting with these approaches will be provided, and the variety of legal mechanisms for achieving these policy options (legislation, rulemaking, executive order, agency program) will be explained.
Chronic disease management and prevention Other professions or practice related to public health Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines Public health or related public policy