Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Brazilian Community Restaurants for the Dimension of Low-Income People Access to Food

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of community restaurants (CRs), managed by the Government of the State of Bahia/Brazil, for the dimension of access to food. The study used secondary data obtained from the public opinion survey Profile of users of community restaurants in Salvador. The nutritional information was accessed through the analysis of CRs’ menus. Adequate effectiveness of access to food was considered when the CR served meals to 50% to 70% of the users considered the target audience (individuals served by the two CRs located in the city of Salvador/Bahia/Brazil). The participants (n = 1464; 778 as low-income individuals) were adult CR users from Salvador/Brazil. Most of the respondents were male, 40 to 54 years old, not white, had up to 9 years of formal education, without a partner, and living in the municipality of Salvador. The evaluated CRs are effective in serving 53.1% of the target population in their total service capacity. Meal provision only reached an estimated 0.7% of the socially vulnerable community in the district. The average energy value of the meal served by the CR units was 853.05 kcal/meal, with a mean energy density composition classified as average (1.15 kcal/g). The effectiveness of the evaluated community restaurants showed that these instruments were minimally effective in promoting access to food for the low-income population within their total daily service capacity, and the current quantity of these facilities was insufficient. However, these instruments stand out in the fundamental role of promoting the daily distribution of meals to the Brazilian population with the highest social vulnerability levels.

Popular Restaurants as strategies to fight hunger and to promote Food and Nutrition Security: an integrative review of scientific publications in the period 2011-2021

“…As for the theme "physical-functional structure of the PR", it is important to highlight that within the multifunctional universe of the PR, the basic premise is to guarantee a dignified place to eat and that provides adequate, balanced, healthy and safe meals at all times and aspects [4,7,8,52]. That is, the need for attention and adequacy is also reinforced regarding the term "food safety" based on the concept of "safe food" [66].…”

“…The PR should be considered a public policy based on the principle of universality that seeks to include and serve everyone, but with a priority of reducing hunger and promoting HRAF for the most vulnerable part of the population. Therefore, it is important to implement and expand this equipment [4,7,52,57,72]. A study carried out in 2011 pointed out that, in that year, the amount of PR in Brazil was already insufficient for all the existing demand.…”

“…Among the 35 studies analyzed, four of them stand out for using as a premise the conception of PR as equipment for promoting HRAF [7,38,52,53], understood as a political, collective and accessible space for all [57].…”

“…Low articulation of the PR evaluated with other FNS actions and programs was found [7]. Sousa et al [52] evaluated the effectiveness of PR in the State of Bahia for the dimension of access to food. The survey showed that the analyzed PR were effective in serving 53.1% of the target population, that is, just over half were compatible with the program's priority profile.…”

“…It was defined that the target audience would be individuals who self-declared income per capita of up to half the minimum wage. However, the number of meals served included only 0.7% of the city's low-income population [52].…”