Improving the nutritional quality of available food aid through improved logistics, removing barriers to access for disadvantaged groups, and designing interventions that address dietary health inequalities.
Why the research is needed?
The rising cost of living appears to be increasing the number of food-insecure households in the UK. In 2023 to 2024, 7.5 million people were in food-insecure households every month. This is an increase of 300,000 people from 2022 to 2023 and an increase of 2.5 million people from 2019 to 2020.
Food pantries differ from food banks. Food banks are referral only, whereas food pantries are self-referral for those who need it and, for a small sum of about £5, people can choose a quantity of heavily discounted food. As yet, there has not been much research on food pantries in the UK or how they might be optimised to improve how they operate.
What are we doing?
We aim to improve the nutritional quality of available food aid through improved logistics, removing barriers to access for disadvantaged groups, designing interventions that address dietary health inequalities. We will develop a customisable online toolkit, which will support the adoption of new interventions to address dietary health inequalities.
How are we working with communities, services and organisations?
We are working with Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council, New Forest District Council and the Isle of Wight Council, plus 10 different food aid services in the region, to improve the food pantries in Southampton, the Isle of Wight and the New Forest. First, we will develop a new online platform to help get better food into food pantries, by linking up supply and providers. Second, we will work with local communities to ask what changes they would like to make in individual food pantries. We will then use mathematical modelling to predict what long-term health improvements these changes might make.
This is a cross-ARC study and we are collaborating with researchers from NIHR ARC Wessex.
What will the impact and benefits of this research be?
This study will develop a customisable online toolkit, which will support the adoption of new interventions to address dietary health inequalities, helping local authorities implement these approaches more easily. The toolkit will support adoption of the logistics platform and scalability of the new interventions.
What do we have planned for knowledge mobilisation and implementation?
We have community and policy roadshow events planned in each of our study sites.
Related papers, outputs and resources
Research outputs will be in the form of policy briefs, videos, posters, academic papers, presentations, shared via a website.
In addition, you can:
Read the ARC Wessex project project titled, 'Determining the Impact of covid-19 on food sEcurity in young families and Testing interventions'
Read the related report titled, 'Food Insecurity Risk Indices for Neighbourhoods 2021'
Who is involved?
- Principal Investigator: Dianna Smith, University of Southampton
- Dr Claire Thompson, University of Hertfordshire
- Behzad Hezarkhani, University of Southampton
- Craig Hutton, University of Southampton
- Ian Waldock, University of Southampton
- Janis Baird, University of Southampton
- Jason Sadler, University of Southampton
- Jenny Baverstock, University of Southampton
- Mary Barker, University of Southampton
- Nisreen Alwan, University of Southampton
- Peter Shaw, University of Southampton
- Juliet Andrews, University of Southampton
- Sarah Shaw, University of Southampton
- Cara Black, University of Southampton
- Bethan Prosser, University of Southampton
Get in contact
Email Dianna Smith or Dr Claire Thompson at D.M.Smith@soton.ac.uk or c.thompson25@herts.ac.uk.
