New mapping tool launched to help bring healthy food to those who need it most
New project, backed by government, will develop mapping tool to bring tackle food inequality.
£8.5 million to tackle food inequality.
- Government funded project will develop a mapping tool to direct a mobile greengrocer to visit areas of Liverpool where social housing residents have limited access to fresh, nutritious food.
- Work in Liverpool is one of 6 innovative new projects to tackle food inequality receiving government funding.
- Projects support government plans to build a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer under the Plan for Change and 10 Year Health Plan.
Households that may struggle to eat nutritious meals due to a lack of accessible healthy options are to receive government support as through 6 projects across the UK, the Science and Technology Peter Kyle unveiled today (Monday 7 July).
One such project is based in Liverpool, where researchers are investigating the factors that influence the diets of people living in social housing and creating a mapping tool to help direct a mobile greengrocer, the Queen of Greens, to visit areas where social housing residents have limited access to fresh, nutritious food.
The Queen of Greens bus has been bringing affordable fresh fruit and vegetables to communities across Liverpool and Knowsley since 2022 – the new research will expand and help target their route to ensure it reaches residents in social housing who may find it harder to access healthier options in their neighbourhoods.
In some areas, the project will also include the offer of fruit and vegetable vouchers, provided by the Alexandra Rose Charity, for residents to make purchases on the Queen of Greens. The researchers will measure how diet and health changes as a result and then use a computer model to predict the broader impacts on health and accessibility to healthy foods if these interventions were rolled out across the country.
This comes just after the government’s launch of the 10 Year Health Plan which set out various measures to help people make the healthy choice the easy choice, acknowledging that where people live can make good health easier or harder. By understanding the impact of innovative local interventions like mobile greengrocers and voucher schemes, this research could help shape more effective ways of improving diet and reducing health inequalities across the country.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:
No one in this country should be left unable to access the healthy food they need – which is why interventions like the Queen of Greens are so important – and measuring their impact is so vital.
These projects will draw on the power of research to actively explore the best ways to get healthy food into the mouths of those who need it, potentially having a transformational effect on people’s lives, and fulfilling the missions set in our Plan for Change.
This project in Liverpool is one of 6 receiving £8.5 million in government funding, through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aimed at improving the accessibility of nutritious food and potentially tackling food waste, by making good food more available to people who need it.
Lucy Antal, director of Alchemic Kitchen CIC who run the Queen of Greens, said:
We are very much looking forward to working on this new research project with all the team assembled by the University of Liverpool. It will be a great opportunity to trial an expansion into supporting social housing tenants to access fresh produce, and to have the health and social impact of this intervention measured and assessed. The Queen of Greens is for everyone, and the data produced will help support our future activity.
Professor Alison Park, Deputy Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said:
Everyone should have access to healthy, nutritious food but we know the number of food insecure households across the UK is increasing. These innovative projects from across the UK – from Wales to Dundee, Nottingham to the Isle of Wight – will go a long way in helping us understand how to tackle food inequalities and what interventions really make a difference.
Other projects
2 ‘public restaurants’ (state-subsidised eateries) will be piloted in Dundee and Nottingham, to provide universal access to nutritious and sustainably produced foods in social settings, and to particularly meet the needs of deprived households with children. The pilots will draw on public health nutrition research with these groups, co-design sessions with a wide range of customers and insights from public restaurants historically in the UK and in other contexts.
The role of community food markets in areas of Glasgow with limited access to grocery stores – known as ‘food deserts’ – will be assessed. To explore successful methods to promote food markets, researchers will incorporate art and food literacy activities to one market and compare the intervention against another market without the intervention.
The quality of food is typically low at food pantries – which unlike the majority of food banks, do not require a referral – and schemes in Southampton, the New Forest and the Isle of Wight will improve the nutritional, low-cost food made available by using online platforms linking supply and providers, in turn reducing waste and keeping surplus food more local. People using food pantries will be asked what other activities and support they would like to see on offer – which might include cooking sessions or recipe boxes – and the intervention will result in a toolkit of resources that councils and pantries can use to collect data about health and diet.
Improving the nutritional content and take-up of free school meals and comparing school food systems across the UK will be the focus of a project led by academics in Wales. Researchers will assess what food is currently offered, what is chosen by families, and what is consumed by learners in the dinner hall. They will then work with schools to analyse the nutritional value and how this compares to established nutrient standards. Recommendations will be provided on how to enhance the nutritional content of school food and how to encourage families and children to take up school meals.
Across England, workshops will be delivered in local authorities with more deprived populations. The main focus of the project will be to work with local authorities to develop and implement new policies to reduce local food inequalities.
Notes to editors
The project in Liverpool, ‘Supporting communities in social housing and optimising urban food system interventions for equity (SCHOUSE)’ will be led by the University of Liverpool.
‘DISHED: co-designing innovative infrastructure for sustainable healthy and equitable diets’, piloting public restaurants, will be led by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.
‘Community food market as a driver for equitable, sustainable food systems’ will be led by the University of Glasgow.
‘Food aid inequality rectified (FAIR-food)’, using online platforms to target high quality food to food pantries, will be led by the University of Southampton.
‘Reducing inequalities in school food environments (RISE)’: supporting provision, uptake and consumption of free school meals in primary schools’ will be led by Cardiff University.
‘Group model building to address dietary health inequalities in English local authorities: a randomised controlled trial with process evaluation’ will be led by the University of Cambridge.
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