Focus Groups Indicate that Vegetable and Fruit Consumption by Food Stamp-Eligible Hispanics is Affected by Children and Unfamiliarity with Non-Traditional Foods

Abstract

As the largest US food assistance program, the Food Stamp Program has a primary goal of improving the diets of low-income households, historically, though, nutrition education has not been a high-priority area ( (1) Basiotis P.P Lramer-LeBlanc C.S Kennedy E.T Maintaining nutrition security and diet quality the role of the Food Stamp Program and WIC. Fam Econ Nutr Rev. 1998; 11: 4-16 Google Scholar ). To compensate, the US Department of Agriculture began funding statewide projects in 1995 and 1996 to provide nutrition education to food stamp recipients ( (2) Research Triangle Institute and Health Systems Research. Evaluation of Statewide Nutrition Education Networks. Washington, DC: Health Systems Research, 1999. Google Scholar ). The Arizona Nutrition Network, organized in 1995, decided to promote vegetable and fruit consumption as its first nutrition education project for the state’s food stamp-eligible population. Network partners prioritized Hispanic households as the initial target audience for nutrition intervention because Hispanic individuals comprised more than half of the state’s Food Stamp Program participants. The Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, Food and Nutrition Service, US Department of Agriculture funded this project through the Arizona Department of Economic Security for the Arizona Nutrition Network. The authors thank all of the Arizona Nutrition Network partners, who have contributed countless hours to nutrition education over the past several years.