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Eat Well at Work: NIH study tests the impact of subsidized healthy frozen meals in vending machines at blue-collar worksites. 

The blue-collar workforce is particularly vulnerable to the conditions and impacts of poor nutrition on health and productivity, as these typically low-wage workers face heightened challenges surrounding accessibilityaffordability, and convenience of healthy food. Yet they rely on good health to support often physically demanding labor. Few approaches to mitigating health disparities have addressed both healthy food access and economic opportunity. Equiti Foods developed Good Bowls as healthy, affordable, good-tasting, convenient, locally produced, and culturally conscious frozen meals. Our mission is to decrease health disparities by increasing the availability and consumption of nutritious food in high-need communities while providing economic opportunities for local farms and small businesses.

Eat Well at Work is an affiliate research project funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Healthy Disparities through a Small Business Technology Transfer grant. Dr. Alice Ammerman, Nutrition Professor and Co-Director of the Carolina Center Outreach Core, is PI of the project and Founder of Equiti Foods LLC, which produces healthy frozen meals called Good Bowls. Equiti Foods sources ingredients from local farmers in collaboration with a local food co-op that produces the meals. Recipes are based on the “Med-South” diet, an adaptation of the Mediterranean Diet tailored to southeastern taste preferences and seasonal availability, using normally wasted seasonal excess or “cosmetically challenged” produce to curb costs and expand markets for farmers. Recipes, made publicly available on our website, include chicken burrito bowl, using many southern vegetables like sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and kale served over brown rice. The sausage, peppers and grits bowls often serve as a breakfast meal for shift workers. Ammerman’s research team has been developing and testing the Med-South diet. NIH and CDC-funded studies have seen improvements in blood pressure, diet quality, and body weight.  

Good Bowls are sold using a cost-offset subsidy approach to create a sustainable business model, allowing for needs-based pricing. In our Eat Well at Work study, subsidized Good Bowls will be paired with smartphone digital infrastructure enabling Bluetooth nudges at the worksite and educational programming.

The Specific Aims of this Phase II project are: 1) Establish Employee Wellness Committees to refine implementation strategies and facilitate engagement with blue-collar workers and families; 2) Test the impact of subsidized Good Bowls availability and promotion alone (Good Bowls) relative to Good Bowls + the phone App nudges (Nudge/Education) using a delayed intervention randomized controlled trial; and 3) Further develop and test our cost-offset model using both direct-to-consumer and retail sales to assess the volume and pricing of high end sales needed to support the social mission. We will also assess health and employee morale-related cost savings for worksites and economic benefits to partner businesses (farms, caterers, non-profits) involved with Good Bowls production.

In the Eat Well at Work study, 250 participants in 10 worksites will be randomized to Good Bowls access or Good Bowls access plus phone app nutrition guidance in blue-collar worksites such as manufacturing plants. Worksite and participant recruitment is underway. This study could provide a model for healthy food options in worksites where workers are generally at higher risk for chronic disease and where the only food available is from soda and snack food vending machines. 

Eat Well at Work is looking for more worksites! Everyone in the worksite will have access to healthy, delicious Good Bowls at a subsidized price. Study participants receive reimbursement for their time in completing measures. If interested, please contact alice_ammerman@unc.edu  or 919 259-6792. Additionally, see the recruitment flyer.