Introduction: Solid school food waste alone costs the earth an estimated 1.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) and 20.9 billion gallons of water waste each year. School share tables provide an opportunity to concurrently reduce GHG emissions and provide vulnerable populations increased access to healthy food. Share tables are places in school cafeterias where students can donate their unwanted school food items to be consumed by others. This study evaluates the impact of a train-the-trainer approach to share table implementation on school food recovery and determines the maintenance costs of share table operation.

Methods: In 2022-2023, researchers collaborated with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program- Education (SNAP-Ed) Programs in 6 Midwestern states to implement and evaluate the integration of share tables into school meal programs. Each participating school (n= 41) submitted monthly cost surveys. SNAP-Ed staff conducted bimonthly share table observations to assess student use of share tables, use of recovered food items (taken by students, re-serviced, donated, or discarded), and weight of recovered food items.

Results: An estimated 978 kg of food costing $2,565 was recovered per school in the first year of share table operation. Each school expended an average of $4.15 over the school year to maintain share table operations, and only 1 school reported an increase in staff time.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that share tables are inexpensive to maintain while also improving access to healthy food and reducing food waste and school nutrition program food costs.

Despite growing evidence linking diet choices to both health outcomes and environmental sustainability, institutional foodservice establishments continue to prioritize meat-based options as the default choice. This industry standard creates unnecessary barriers to healthy, sustainable eating and contributes to diet-related diseases and environmental degradation. Opportunely, this practice can be adjusted by applying behavioral science principles to transform institutional foodservice environments while preserving individual choices.

Behavioral science interventions in foodservice settings utilize proven strategies including menu redesign, plant-based defaults, and evidence-based messaging. This approach preserves diner choice while making sustainable options more accessible through strategic implementation, staff training, and impact tracking.

Multiple three to four-month minimum behavioral intervention pilots in hospital foodservice operations yielded significant outcomes: reduced carbon emissions and food costs, improved patient satisfaction, and increased access to culturally relevant foods. Case studies from participating hospitals demonstrate successful implementation in both patient and retail settings, with all sites achieving cost-neutral or positive budget impacts while incorporating behavioral science strategies.

Plant-based defaults demonstrate that strategic application of behavioral science in foodservice environments can effectively promote healthier, more sustainable food choices without restricting individual freedom. The success of multiple pilots highlight the vital role of designing and implementing innovative foodservice policies that address both public health and environmental concerns. The scalability and cost-effectiveness of this approach make it a promising model for nationwide implementation, supporting the broader goal of making public health and environmental sustainability key priorities in institutional foodservice.

Introduction: Climate change is contributing to more frequent and intense extreme weather events like fires, floods and heatwaves. Populations at higher risk of experiencing climate-related events are often the same groups disproportionately affected by food insecurity. In addition, food insecurity can increase the risk of negative health impacts of climate events.

Methods: Using 2023 California Health Interview Survey data, we examined similarities in the characteristics associated with food insecurity and with experiencing extreme weather events using logistic regression models. Additional models tested the association of food insecurity with self-reported health impacts of exposure to climate-related events. All models adjusted for age, gender, race, income, education, urbanicity, housing stability, and neighborhood safety.

Results: Rates of self-reported health impacts of exposure to climate-related events were significantly higher among adults experiencing food insecurity than food-secure adults (43% vs 29%). Results from adjusted logistic regression models indicated that American Indians, individuals experiencing housing insecurity, and those who rarely feel safe in their neighborhoods were more likely to experience both food insecurity and climate-related events. In addition, adults experiencing food insecurity were more likely to report their health was harmed by extreme weather events (OR=1.78, 95% CI=1.42-2.24).

Discussion: Food insecurity was associated with greater health impacts from climate-related events. Some groups, including American Indians, those facing housing insecurity, and those in unsafe neighborhoods are particularly at risk. Addressing food insecurity could help mitigate the health impacts of climate-related events.

Introduction: There is growing interest in potential health and sustainability co-benefits of dietary patterns, but few dietary assessments are available which include measures of foods’ environmental impacts. The database of Food Recall Impacts on the Environment for Nutrition and Dietary Studies (DataFRIENDS), developed using a systematic review of life cycle assessments quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) from food production, has recently been linked to the US National Cancer Institute’s free, publicly-available food frequency tool, the Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ), enabling a variety of new analyses. The purpose of this project is to use this linkage to examine food-related GHGE and diet quality in a large US cohort.

Methods: The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study includes 566,398 participants aged ≥50 years from eight states. Baseline data collection (1995-1996) included dietary intake measured by the 124-item DHQ I. We will link food-related emissions (kg CO₂-equivalents) to food frequency reports, calculate dietary GHGE, and calculate the Healthy Eating Index to measure diet quality.

Results: Results will (1) describe the distribution of food-related GHGE in the baseline NIH-AARP sample, and (2) examine the relationship between food-related GHGE and diet quality. We will examine food-related emissions by characteristics including age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, and body mass index. We will discuss opportunities, strengths, and limitations of the newly available public linkage between the DHQ and DataFRIENDS.

Discussion: Dietary greenhouse gas emissions are now publicly available to researchers using any version of DHQ, enabling a variety of diet, health, and climate impact analyses.

Introduction: The USDA Farm to School Grant Program helps organizations initiate, expand, and institutionalize farm to school efforts. More specifically, it helps child nutrition programs incorporate local foods into federal and tribal meal programs, thereby stimulating local economies, improving children’s health and nutrition, and creating benefits for schools and communities. We conducted an evaluation of USDA Farm to School grantees to better understand their achievements, activities, and challenges.

Methods: We analyzed 2018 and 2019 grantees’ applications and reports by calculating descriptive statistics from closed-ended responses and developing a codebook and conducting a thematic analysis for open-ended responses.

Results:

• Most (86%) grantees served locally produced foods in the cafeteria.
• Nearly 180,000 students benefited from taste tests and 145,000 from edible school gardening.
• Grantees created at least 1,100 new recipes through their farm to school efforts, and 58% worked with schools that created at least one new recipe emphasizing seasonal ingredients sourced from local producers.

Discussion: Farm to School grants are important resources that supported a wide range of activities, bringing locally sourced foods and nutrition education to schools and communities across the country. The COVID-19 pandemic and local produce procurement were some of the largest challenges grantees faced when executing grants. Grantees reported impacts including greater community support for school meals and acceptance of new meal patterns. Several grantees noted they aimed to diversify funding streams to continue activities in the future to ensure continued positive impact on children and their health and communities.