44 survey participants 68% either strongly agreed or agreed that nutrient labels affect choices

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OBJECTIVE The Effect of ‘Healthy for Life’, on Consumer’s Health and Nutrition Awareness • To evaluate the effectiveness of ‘Healthy for Life’ on consumer’s food choices in Susquehanna Health’s cafeteria based on subjective feedback and sales information Kate Eichen, dietetic intern, April Mase, RD, LDN, Susquehanna Health, Cindy Banta, MS,RDN,LDN, Internship director Aramark Distance Learning Dietetic Internship INTRODUCTION RESULTS DISCUSSION • 44 survey participants • 68% either strongly agreed or agreed that nutrient labels affect choices • 82% say that signage indicating which foods are healthier options have an influence • 96% of participants agreeing or strongly agreeing that healthy items at reduced cost would encourage their selection • 64% of participants noticed the implementation of the ‘Healthy for Life’ program while 36% did not • Top ten most popular items include cookies, pepperoni pizza, salad bar, frenchfries, cheese pizza, cheeseburger, onion rings, taco salad, cheesesteaks, and chili • 7 out of the 10 best sellers increased from 2013 to 2014 • When all items are compared, 2030 more items were sold in 2014 than in 2013 • 5 items are considered healthy • The five items account for 553 items sold in 2013 and 1104 in 2014 • In 2013, the average total amount of unhealthy food items was 125 and the average total amount of healthy food items was 111 • In 2014, the average total amount of unhealthy items increased to 161 but the average of healthy items sold increased greatly to 221. • Healthy items increased by 110 while unhealthy items only increased by 36 • The question of whether ‘Healthy for Life’, compared to previous cafeteria programs, altered the staff and visitor’s food choices can be answered. • Both subjective and objective data shows that the new program has positively altered the consumer’s food choices. • Strengths of the study: • having subjective and objective data • suggested improvement section to get feedback from the customers • Limitations of the study: • late roll out of program only allowed for 3 weeks of data to be analyzed • time constraint forced small sample size • implemented in pieces instead of a program unveiling • few changes to recipes because of already meeting healthy to indulgent ratio • several new salads were added to the grab and go section but were unable to include in data due to only being sold in 2014 • Cafeteria would benefit from adding healthy entrees or finding healthier variations to existing recipes • Additional findings from this study include: • suggestions for menu improvement • program reveal for bigger impact could include taste testing, marketing, and a larger scale grand opening or unveiling • There are multitudes of emerging trends in the field of dietetics. Aramark is at the forefront of this healthy food movement with their new health and wellness platform, ‘Healthy for Life’. ‘Healthy for Life’ will: • enable a healthy food environment • educate consumers • encourage healthy choices • engage customers • These goals will be met with several different approaches, such as: • Providing nutrition labels on food packages • Displaying signage to indicate better choices • Emphasizing zero calorie and low calorie beverage options • Providing education on overall health • Promoting use of smart phone apps to monitor intake • Offering workshops and cooking demonstrations METHODS Using an Outcomes research study design Resources: access to sales data, time to gather information Eligibility to participate: to complete survey, responder must have purchased from the cafeteria in both before and after the program was initiated Information collected from Susquehanna Health cafeteria using a convenience sample Information will be analyzed using Microsoft Excel Methodology Sales figures from the ten top quantity selling items from the first two weeks in March 2013 and March 2014 were compared. In addition, healthy foods were compared to unhealthy foods in all foods that were sold in both time periods. Qualitative data was collected using a survey to evaluate their opinions regarding the importance of healthy food, the impact of nutrition labels and signs, and their observation of the ‘Healthy for Life’ program. Comparison of Differences in Healthy and Unhealthy Foods in March 2013 and 2014 Comparison of Ten Best Selling Items in 2013 and 2014 CONCLUSIONS • the study provides a good idea of what the ‘Healthy for Life’ platform has accomplished in a short period of time • Hypothesizes that due to consumer’s awareness to nutrition, ‘Healthy for Life’ will continue to make an impact and will improve the health of the people using Aramark cafeterias • research allows the opportunity to monitor sales of healthy items and to continually evaluate the effectiveness of ‘Healthy for Life’ • Able to observe the acceptability of new items and to slowly add healthy items while limiting unhealthy items • In terms of dietetics, this research allows us to become aware of what is needed for people to make educated, healthy decisions CONTACT INFORMATION For additional information: Kate Eichen katieeichen@gmail.com