Nutritional Quality of Emergency Foods

Food insecurity is associated with increased risk of diet-related disease. A key initiative of the Oregon Food Bank is to improve nutritional quality of emergency foods. The purpose of this study was to categorize products distributed by the Oregon Food Bank into food groups by pounds (as-purchased) and MyPyramid units (edible portion). Using a “MyPyramid Day” to describe the number of units required daily from each food group for a 2,000-kcal/day reference diet, we calculated the number of MyPyramid Days distributed in 1 year (2004-2005) by the Oregon Food Bank. Of the 36.4 million pounds of food analyzed, 24.2 million (66%) fell into MyPyramid (grains, fruit, vegetables, meat/beans, and milk), with the remaining categorized as condiments/baking supplies (2.48 M, 7%), discretionary calories (2.91 M, 8%), combination foods (2.87 M, 8%), and variety/unknown (3.96 M, 11%). Fewer MyPyramid Days were distributed (in millions of MyPyramid Days) from the fruit (5.85 M) and milk (5.95 M) groups than were foods from the grains (10.02 M), meat/beans (9.99 M), and vegetables (10.25 M) groups. A MyPyramid Day is useful for measuring distribution of foods from MyPyramid food groups. However, the utility of these results depends on whether a food assistance network has the capacity to improve quality through increased distribution of foods (either from donations or purchases) from specific food groups. Results can be used to identify foods to target for increase in food resource development efforts to improve the overall nutritional quality of foods provided to recipients.