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Development of the University Food Environment Assessment (Uni-Food) Tool and Process to Benchmark the Healthiness, Equity, and Environmental Sustainability of University Food Environments

Version 3 2024-06-19, 06:43
Version 2 2024-06-05, 10:54
Version 1 2021-11-19, 08:21
journal contribution
posted on 2021-11-01, 00:00 authored by Davina Mann, J Kwon, Shaan NaughtonShaan Naughton, S Boylan, Jasmine ChanJasmine Chan, K Charlton, J Dancey, C Dent, A Grech, V Hobbs, S Lamond, S Murray, M Yong, Gary SacksGary Sacks
Globally, there is increasing interest in monitoring actions to create healthy, equitable and environmentally sustainable food environments. Currently, there is a lack of detailed tools for monitoring and benchmarking university food environments. This study aimed to develop the University Food Environment Assessment (Uni-Food) tool and process to benchmark the healthiness, equity, and environmental sustainability of food environments in tertiary education settings, and pilot test its implementation in three Australian universities in 2021. The Uni-Food tool development was informed by a review of the literature and input from an expert advisory panel. It comprises three components: (1) university systems and governance, (2) campus facilities and environments, and (3) food retail outlets. The process for implementing the tool is designed for universities to self-assess the extent to which they have implemented recommended practice in 68 indicators, across 16 domains, weighted based on their relative importance. The pilot implementation of the tool identified moderate diversity in food environments across universities and highlighted several opportunities for improvements at each institution. The assessment process was found to be reliable, with assessors rating the tool as easy to use, requiring minimal resources. Broad application of the tool has the potential to increase accountability and guide best practice in tertiary education and other complex institutional settings.

History

Journal

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Volume

18

Issue

22

Article number

11895

Pagination

1 - 17

Publisher

MDPI

Location

Basel, Switzerland

ISSN

1661-7827

eISSN

1660-4601

Language

English

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal