1. Developing the Food Assortment Scoring Tool (FAST)
Caitlin Caspi, ScD
University of Minnesota
Family Medicine and Community Health
NOPREN Hunger Safety Net Work Group
September 25, 2017

2. Challenges in the hunger relief network
Demand
Low appeal leads to slow movement of healthy food through the system
Supply
Constraints on what is offered to clients

3. What are the needs for addressing healthy food supply?
A way of measuring nutritional quality
A way to provide feedback to donors and decision- makers
Changes in ordering practices of food pantry staff
New procurement strategies

4. Attempts to use HEI-2010 to measure supply

5. Challenges of using HEI-2010 in hunger relief
Based on calorie density
Complex coding system
Need researcher assistance to calculate
Difficult to combine data from multiple sources (food orders, donations, retail rescue)

6. Challenges of using HEI-2010 in hunger relief
FAST
Based on calorie density
Complex coding system
Need researcher assistance to calculate
Difficult to combine data from multiple sources (food orders, donations, retail rescue)
Based on weight
Comprehensible coding system
Can be calculated by food pantries themselves
More easily incorporates food from multiple sources

7. Food Assortment Scoring Tool (FAST)
Supported by Target Foundations Social Service Grants , in collaboration with The Food Group and Second Harvest Heartland

8. Overview: How the FAST is calculated
Sort foods into defined food categories
Weigh the food in each category and calculate a gross weight share for each category
Multiply each gross weight share by a model parameter that reflects its healthfulness
Sum all of the categories to create a total score (range 0-100)

9. Creating FAST food categories: A balancing act
Validity
Feasibility
Is simple and transparent
Categories are intuitive
Small number of categories
Correlates with HEI-2010
Categories align with other standards
Large number of categories

10. Final FAST categories
FAST category
Coefficient 1
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
63.4 2
Processed Fruits and Vegetables
79.2 3
Whole grains
111.1 4
Non-whole grains
35.2 5
Beverages
67.1 6
Dessert and snacks
35.5 7
Dairy
69.1 8
Vegetable Protein
132.2 9
Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs
63.3 10
High Processed meat
3.2 11
Mixed meals and side dishes
47.8 12
Condiments baking and cooking
37.5 13
Baby food
49.4
Obtained monthly invoices from two food banks over two years
Modeled category parameters based on HEI-2010 scores and corresponding food assortment from the data (King et al. 2016)*
5,786 “food pantry month” observations
Categories were broadly based on the Uniform Number Codes (UNC) used by Feeding America Network
In general, less nutritious items can be grouped together
Some categories reflect nutritional priorities
Grains: Whole grains vs. non-whole grains
Meats: Lean vs. processed meats
FAST parameters take into account both the nutritional quality of the food in the category and the average weight of items in the category, so they cannot be directly compared with one another. For example, foods in the fresh fruits and vegetables category are nutritious (for which the category parameter is higher), but tend to be heavy (for which the category parameter is lower).
Coefficient estimation procedures described in King et al., 2016 How healthy is hunger relief food? Am J Ag Econ, (2):

11. FAST tool available at:

12. Procedures for sorting food into categories
FAST Category
Examples
Processed Fruits and Vegetables
Canned corn
Canned peaches
Raisins
Dried cherries
Applesauce
Frozen fruits, sweetened
Canned Pumpkin
Tomato/pasta/spaghetti sauce (no meat or cheese)
Potato wedges
Pickled vegetable
Canned mushrooms
Rotel tomatoes
Hash browns
Sauerkraut
Dried potatoes
Canned olives
Pickles
Canned olives (not stuffed)
Mixed Meals and Side dishes
Soups
Hamburger helper
Macaroni and cheese (even if whole grain)
Lean cuisine
Prepared deli sandwiches
Canned chili containing meat
Stuffed bread
French toast
Vegetables with sauce
Restaurant meals
Pork and beans
Canned meat stew
Canned pasta w meat
Broth
Fresh salsa
Prepared salads, tuna salad, macaroni salad, broccoli salad, salad mixes with dressing

18. Average Availability Measure
Correlation with HEI-2010
Average Availability Measure
Client Cart
Measure
Flow
Measure Description
A precise one-time count of all items on the shelf available to clients
Food selected by clients the end of their visit
Food restocked on the shelf over a period of 5 days N
5 food pantries
60 clients

19. Average Availability Measure
Correlation with HEI-2010
Average Availability Measure
Client Cart
Measure
Flow
Measure Description
A precise one-time count of all items on the shelf available to clients
Food selected by clients the end of their visit
Food restocked on the shelf over a period of 5 days N
5 food pantries
60 clients
Total HEI Score (min-max)
70.9 ( )
69.6 (41.9 – 92.4) --
TOTAL FAST Score
(min-max)
63.8 ( )
62.5 ( )
61.5 ( )
Correlation
0.80
0.66

20. Conclusion FAST is a 13 category measure based on food weight
FAST is a simple, transparent tool appropriate for use in food pantries
FAST correlates reasonably well with HEI-2010
Food banks (The Food Group and Second Harvest Heartland) are currently integrating FAST scores into food pantry invoices