EAT FAIR: Equitable Access Through Community Food Actions for an Inclusive and Resilient society.

Poor diets that are low in fruit and vegetables are the biggest risk factor for preventable diseases. In the UK ~15% of households are considered food insecure and therefore at particular risk of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Through innovative programmes, local food partnerships and charities are working to change this. One approach is to make fruit and vegetables from local food producers accessible to food insecure households or those with chronic diseases through voucher or prescription schemes. These schemes support households to improve their nutrition in a way that connects them to local food producers, supporting social wellbeing while contributing to the local economy and incomes of small-scale food producers. Research is required to improve understanding of how these schemes work, their value for money and their potential for reducing diet-related health inequalities and strengthening the sustainability of the current UK food system.

The ‘EAT FAIR: Equitable Access Through Community Food Actions for an Inclusive and Resilient society’, aims to evaluate fruit and vegetable prescribing programmes for their impact on nutrition and other environmental, social and economic outcomes. Such a complex evaluation requires addressing several challenges first. We are currently undertaking a Programme Development Project, funded by the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme. The project is co-led by University of Exeter and Cardiff University, and collaborates with key organisations that have extensive experience in the field; Sustain, Volunteer Cornwall and Food Sense Wales (Cardiff and Vale University Health Board). We are bringing together researchers, delivery partners and people with lived experience of current schemes to (1) learn how to deliver a scheme and address barriers; 2) explore consensus amongst experts on what we need to measure to understand what works (e.g. diet, wellbeing, financial sustainability); (3) co-design an evaluation plan for the EAT FAIR project.