Optimising food baskets in a local food pantry: The case study of El Rebost

Top Things to Know

The optimized food baskets significantly improved nutritional coverage, ensuring that beneficiaries receive essential nutrients. This aligns with the food is medicine approach, emphasizing the role of adequate nutrition in preventing and managing health conditions.

By increasing the variety of food products in the baskets, the study supports dietary diversity, which is crucial for overall health and well-being. Diverse diets can help prevent nutrient deficiencies and contribute to better health outcomes.

The model's focus on reducing inequity ensures that all beneficiaries receive a fair share of food resources, promoting social equity and improving access to nutritious food for vulnerable populations. This is vital in the food is medicine context, as equitable access to healthy food is essential for maintaining public health.

Summary of Conclusion/Findings

The study focused on optimizing food baskets in a local food pantry, in Terrassa, Spain. The researchers developed a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model to address three key challenges: maximizing nutritional coverage, increasing food product variety, and minimizing inequity in food allocation. Their model demonstrated significant improvements over current practices, increasing minimum nutritional coverage by 119%, minimum product variety by 17.1%, and reducing inequity by 28% on average. The study highlights the importance of personalized food baskets tailored to individual dietary needs and nutritional requirements, providing a systematic approach for food banks to enhance their distribution strategies.