What is the availability, affordability, and quality of foods and beverages aligned with dietary guidance in Louisiana Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) authorized stores?

Bailey Houghtaling; Melissa Cater; De'Jerra Bryant; Allie Brooks; Denise Holston

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101578

What is the availability, affordability, and quality of foods and beverages aligned with dietary guidance in Louisiana Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) authorized stores?

Prev Med Rep. 2021 Sep 28:24:101578. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101578. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Bailey Houghtaling¹, Melissa Cater², De'Jerra Bryant¹, Allie Brooks¹, Denise Holston¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Louisiana State University (LSU) & LSU Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
² Agricultural and Extension Education and Evaluation, Louisiana State University (LSU) & LSU Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.

Abstract

Healthy food retail strategies are delivered by Cooperative Extension Services in Louisiana to improve public health among communities with lower income. To guide Cooperative Extension Services Programming, the aim of this study was to assess healthy food access among SNAP-authorized stores. This included comparing the availability, affordability, and quality of healthy foods sold in these stores by geography, ownership, and store type. Seventy-five Louisiana SNAP-authorized stores were selected for measurement. Between October 2019 and March 2020 (prior to the COVID-19 national emergency declaration), trained researchers used the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) to assess the availability, affordability, and quality of healthy versus less healthy foods and beverages in 42 SNAP-authorized stores, including: grocery (n = 12, 29%), convenience (n = 17, 41%), drug (n = 1, 2%), dollar (n = 11, 26%), and butcher/meat (n = 1, 2%). Multivariate analysis of variance (a priori, p < 0.05) determined if differences in total NEMS-S scores or subscores existed by geography (urban versus rural), ownership (corporate/chain versus independent), or store type. No urban/rural differences were identified. Corporate/chain SNAP-authorized stores scored higher on average than independent SNAP-authorized stores for the total NEMS-S score (17.2 versus 8.1; p = 0.009) and availability subscore (13.1 versus 6.1; p = 0.02). SNAP-authorized grocery stores scored higher than all other store types (total NEMS-S score 27.6), followed by SNAP-authorized dollar stores (total NEMS-S score 10.7), and SNAP-authorized convenience stores (total NEMS-S score 5) (p < 0.001). Louisiana Cooperative Extension Services should explore ways to scale healthy food retail strategies statewide with a specific emphasis on independent and smaller SNAP-authorized retailers.

Keywords: Beverages; CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; DGA, 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; EFNEP, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program; Food; Food access; Food assistance; Food security; NEMS-S, Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores; PSE, policy, systems, and environmental; Public health; RUCC, Rural-Urban Continuum Code; SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; SNAP-Ed, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education; WIC, Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children.