COVID-19 and school food: The impact of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic on student nutrition programs in Ontario

Noyes, Indra; Lyle, Nicola

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2021.102.049

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The organization advocates for critical public policies and works with innovative food-based programs that advance the capacity of people and communities to achieve sustainable food security (Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security, 2020). 26 In Ontario, there are 14 lead agencies but for the research cited only 11 agencies provided data pertinent to this discussion point (Noyes and Lyle, 2021).…”

Section: Maintenancementioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 School Re-opening Plans: Rolling Back School Food Programming in Canada?

et al. 2022

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At the beginning of 2020 national school food programs reached more children than any time in history making school food programs the most extensive form of social safety nets in the world. Looking to Canada, school food programs across the country serve more than 1 million students and provide multifaceted benefits including access to healthy fresh food choices, improving learning capacities, promoting nutritional awareness, assisting food-insecure households, and promoting local food procurement. However, since the beginning of the SARS-Cov 2 (COVID-19) pandemic these programs have faced operational challenges resulting in many rolling back their operations while food insecurity rates in Canada have increased dramatically. Framed as a Canadian case study analysis, this paper considers the discursive effects of provincial and territorial school reopening plans and the material consequences felt by SFPs. Specifically, this paper considers the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of provincial and territorial school food programs within the broader conceptualization of ecological public health to consider if these programs were enabled or constrained by school reopening plans. The authors conducted a policy analysis of 57 primary and 164 supportive school reopening documents developed between April 2020 and September 2021. It was found that provincial and territorial school reopening plans primarily focused on measures to limit infectious disease transmission while food discussed in broad terms demonstrated policy makers' limited awareness of the important role of school food programs and support required to maintain them. In turn, two key observations were made: 1) government school reopening plans have overlooked the benefits of school food programs in Canada, and 2) school reopening plan designers missed opportunities to improve school food programs. This paper argues a thorough understanding of the impacts to school food programs by provincial and territorial COVID-19 public health guidelines is needed for politicians, policymakers, and school food practitioners to support the short- and long-term capacity of these programs and to ensure food insecurity and nutritional health issues in Canada continue to be on thepolitical agenda.

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Section: Maintenancementioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 School Re-opening Plans: Rolling Back School Food Programming in Canada?

et al. 2022

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“…We agree with other scholars that the unprecedented context of the pandemic opened the room for questions on how to resource and reimagine SFPs as platforms to mitigate food security in the context of future emergencies. 27 Cross-sector collaboration has been identified as a factor that affected the effectiveness of local feeding approaches to serve children and families in the United States during the pandemic. 25 In addition, although not investigated systematically in this study, SFPs have been able to support communities in their food security response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, 28 and in Peru, with the SFP Qali Warma being leveraged to feed communities.…”

Section: Allocation Of Resources To Safeguard Nutritional Benefits Du...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons Learned for Emergency Feeding During Modifications to 11 School Feeding Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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Background: School feeding programs (SFPs) can play a crucial role in the emergency food and nutrition response, but there is a dearth of information on how SFPs operate during emergencies. Design and Methods: A rapid comparative assessment of 11 SFPs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from (1) systematic document search and (2) surveys with key informants (n = 23) about barriers/facilitators to modifications were systematically analyzed using a multiple case study approach. Results: During the pandemic, all SFPs continued (although continuation plans varied from a few days in Chile to >1 month in Puerto Rico) via food kits, food vouchers, and/or grab n’ go meals. The SFP implementation was highly dependent on the programs’ autonomy and financial support, which impacted their logistics to acquire and distribute foods during the pandemic. The types of foods offered in some SFPs suggest that established nutritional guidelines were not always followed. Key informants expressed concerns about the deterioration of the nutritional quality of foods offered during the pandemic and lack of community engagement that impeded distribution to the neediest. Conclusions: Results underscore the urgency for clear implementation guidance on how to modify SFP during emergencies. Public health implications include (1) allocation of autonomous resources to an intersectoral working group to safeguard nutritional benefits during emergencies, (2) strengthening efforts of SFP community engagement before and during emergencies, and (3) establishing guidelines of the types of foods that can be distributed to meet the nutritional needs of beneficiaries during emergencies.

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“…Much of the initial research on food system resilience and local responses to reduced food access during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on conventional emergency food resources, such as food pantries (Hege et al, 2021;Schoenfeldt, 2020) and school food programs (Noyes & Lyle, 2021). There is also recent literature that considers how agroecological models might offer a more pandemic-proof food supply by focusing on small-scale, local production (Altieri & Nicholls, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economies of community in local agriculture: Farmers in New London, Connecticut, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic

Black

Duran

2022

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the weaknesses of the U.S. national food system, with grocery store shelves emptied in March and April 2020 and COVID outbreaks reported throughout the summer of 2020 at meat processing plants across the country. Fleetingly, Americans turned to local farms to ensure they could access food safely in a time of uncertainty. This paper examines the economies of community that formed around local farms and how direct engagements between consumers and producers in the face of the pandemic deepened these economic structures that often put community well-being above profits. Within a capitalist system that prioritizes efficient mass production, economies of community illustrate that solidarity can improve local food system resilience. Based on qualitative and quantitative research carried out in the summer of 2020 in New London County in southeastern Connecticut, this research draws on ethnographic interviews with small-scale farmers who developed innovative ways to feed some of their community’s most vulnerable members. Community economies show that we should not only depend on standardized large-scale farms and giant retail distribution; the American food system needs to continue to cultivate small-scale local production in order to improve resilience and food access. At present, the sustainability of producing and distributing food occurs at the farmer’s expense. The government needs to support local food producers so they can continue to play an integral part in community well-being.

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COVID-19 and school food: The impact of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic on student nutrition programs in Ontario

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

COVID-19 School Re-opening Plans: Rolling Back School Food Programming in Canada?

COVID-19 School Re-opening Plans: Rolling Back School Food Programming in Canada?

Lessons Learned for Emergency Feeding During Modifications to 11 School Feeding Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Economies of community in local agriculture: Farmers in New London, Connecticut, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic

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