Retailer Videos Highlight Produce Prescriptions to Fight Food Insecurity

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” In 2022, this prescription for nutrition still holds true today, and grocery industry leaders are turning it into a movement.

The National Grocers Association Foundation Technical Assistance Center (NGAF TA) Center, which helps address the challenges grocers and supermarket operators face in establishing nutrition incentive and produce prescription projects, has partnered with two northeastern grocery chains to create testimonial and informational videos highlighting the growing food-as-medicine movement and the GusNIP produce prescription project (PPR). The GusNIP NTAE Center is led by Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition. In partnership with Fair Food Network, they assembled the Nutrition Incentive Hub, a coalition of evaluators, researchers, practitioners, and grocery and farmers market experts dedicated to increasing access to affordable, healthy food to those who need it most. 

Daily Table, a nonprofit community grocery chain with a mission to make healthy food affordable to all, has been running a PPR project for several months through a partnership with Boston-based nonprofit About Fresh and has found it to be highly beneficial to its community members.

“This partnership has made a huge impact for our community,” said Michael Malmberg, chief operating officer of Daily Table, in a statement. “We’ve had a lot of customers say they’re able to afford more fresh produce, stretch their budgets a lot further and feel better, eat healthier, and that it’s overall an amazing program.”

While produce prescription projects are beneficial to customers, they are also advantageous to the stores operating them. Malmberg spoke to the ease of implementation, point of differentiation and the increase in produce and overall store sales as positive reasons to participate. “You really stand out in the marketplace with a unique offering,” he said, “and it’s the right thing to do in helping our community afford more fresh produce.”

Stop & Shop, a northeastern grocery chain with more than 400 stores, has also recently partnered with About Fresh to offer the GusNIP PPR project, but sees such food-as-medicine efforts as only just beginning. “This is the first of many programs we’re going to use, and innovate, and try to drive healthier sales and help our customers live healthier lives,” said Director of External Communications Jen Brogan in a statement. “We really hope that others in the industry join us in this effort.”

The project was implemented through About Fresh’s new Fresh Connect platform. The company said through this platform, healthcare teams can “prescribe” food-insecure patients who are either on, or are eligible for, SNAP or Medicaid, and whose health conditions could be improved by eating more fruits and vegetables with a prepaid Fresh Connect debit card that can be used to purchase healthy foods at participating stores. These stores are fully reimbursed by About Fresh for all qualifying purchases redeemed by PPR patients.

The GusNIP produce prescription project said it offers grocers a chance to positively impact their customers while also providing numerous benefits to the stores who offer them. “These programs will only continue to grow as the food-as-medicine movement picks up steam and healthy food offerings and access are prioritized,” it said.

As a means to share these stories and encourage other retailers, the NGAF TA Center has created two videos; one sharing the ways in which the project serves as an asset both to stores and to their community members, and one highlighting the future of food-as-medicine (closed captioning available).

Retailers who want to learn more about produce prescriptions can visit here.

The NGAF TA Center is a resource for grocers and supermarket operators across the country and there are no fees or NGA membership requirements for use of technical assistance services.