Good Bowls: Empowering Communities to Achieve Good Food Access and Health Equity

AbstractEmerging data indicate that those with pre-existing health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and heartdisease, are at significantly increased risk of contracting COVID-19, as are low income and persons of color.Research also suggests that food insecurity (lack of access to affordable, nutritionally valuable food) and poordietary intake are likely contributors to health disparities in these populations. Unemployment, poverty, ethnicminority status, and rural residence are also strong predictors of poor health. The need to provide accessibleand affordable healthy food options to support improved immune system function to higher-risk populations hastherefore become increasingly urgent as the pandemic unfolds. Nutritional status is believed to play a key rolein the prevention, treatment, and management of COVID-19, with a balanced diet and certain nutrients servingto strengthen the immune system. Yet, even as the need for nutritious food options has become more urgent,the pandemic has led to enormous food industry job loss, closing of food-related businesses, loss of restaurantand institutional markets for small to mid-sized farmers, and excess produce being wasted or donated to foodbanks /pantries where the capacity to store and distribute this volume of perishable food is limited. These effectshave dramatically amplified food insecurity,1 particularly in minority and low income populations.Equiti Foods LLC is advancing Good Bowls, a production and distribution platform to increase availability ofhealthy, affordable, locally-produced, good-tasting frozen meals to low income and minority populations in smalltowns and rural communities, while also providing economic opportunities for small businesses in ruralcommunities. The meals are based on the Mediterranean diet adapted for taste preferences and seasonalavailability of food in the southeastern US ("Med-South Diet"). Equiti Foods has tested the Med-South diet inmultiple studies and found beneficial health impacts in low income populations as well as broad acceptabilityregarding taste. This Phase I administrative supplement will focus on tailoring the platform for application incurrent COVID-19 impacted regional economies and business environments. The goal is to assist in minimizingthe health, financial and social impacts of the pandemic in health disparity populations. Specific aims include: 1)work with three identified restaurants/caterers in rural economically distressed communities (including one Black-owned and one Latinx-owned) to test the Good Bowls model; 2) assess early stage nutrition impact on customersadversely affected by COVID-19 in terms of food security, diet quality and healthy food knowledge/behaviors; 3)incorporate COVID-19-related health messaging into the Good Bowls packaging tailored to local communities.If successful, this project will establish feasibility of a Good Bowls model that will: 1) empower small scale foodproducers, invigorating local economies; 2) prevent food waste resulting from COVID-disrupted food distributionchains; 3) provide at-risk populations with nutritious food to assist in prevention and management of COVID-19.