Reducing the Intake of Sodium in Community Settings: Evaluation of Year One Activities in the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017

PEER REVIEWED

The flowchart has 4 columns of information on the following topics: venues, people, strategies and year 1 activities, and evaluation questions and year 1 outcome measures. “Venues” consists of the following: Schools; Springdale, Arkansas, public school district; 3 high schools; 4 junior high schools; 4 middle schools; 18 elementary schools; 1 prekindergarten; 30 total schools. Community meals: 3 on-site (eg, “soup kitchen”) meal programs; 2 weekend food bag (eg, “backpack”) programs; 5 total community meals programs. “People” consists of the following: UAMS project staff (% full-time equivalent); Project director (25%); Project manager (50%); Evaluation director (50%); Schools venue coordinator (100%); Community meals venue coordinator (100%); Registered dietitian (100%). Titles of schools food policy committee members: School District Director of Child Nutrition; School District Assistant Director of Child Nutrition; Titles of community meals food policy committee members; Director of Operations; Director of Food Services; Director of Missions; Outcomes/Systems Manager; Café Program Coordinator; Backpack Program Coordinator. “Strategies and Year 1 Activities” consists of the following: Food service guidelines that discuss sodium; Implemented comprehensive food service guidelines that include sodium reduction standards and practices; Procurement practices to reduce sodium content in foods and ingredients purchased; Implemented standardized purchasing list with lower-sodium items; Identified and purchased lower-sodium alternatives for products and ingredients; Focused school’s USDA Foods commodity orders on low-sodium or no-sodium items; Taste-tested lower-sodium ingredients for venue staff; Food preparation practices to reduce sodium content of menu items and meals; Developed and served lower-sodium recipes for high-sodium entrées; Modified the menu cycle to add new lower-sodium entrées; Implemented policy to eliminate “free salting”; Developed and served recipes for lower-sodium menu items that incorporate restaurant-donated foods; Environmental strategies that encourage reductions in dietary sodium intake; Placed posters featuring sodium reduction messages in food preparation areas; Sent monthly newsletters of sodium reduction tips to venue personnel; Implemented flavor stations in junior high and high school cafeteria dining areas; Placed multilingual educational signs and dining table tents that address sodium reduction in dining areas; Moved salt shakers from dining tables to locations across the room. “Evaluation Questions and Year 1 Outcome Measures” consists of the following: Evaluation questions: How and to what extent have sodium reduction interventions been implemented in venues and entities? How and to what extent has the food environment changed since the implementation of sodium reduction interventions, specifically addressing availability of lower-sodium food products? To what extent have lower-sodium food products been purchased or selected by either consumers or large service providers? What promising and innovative sodium reduction strategies have been found effective that could be replicated by similar communities? Year 1 outcome measures: Sodium mg served per diner; Sodium mg per entrée offered and per entrée served; Entrees offered with ≤480 mg of sodium; Sodium mg per meal offered and per meal served.

Figure.
Overview of implementation of the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017. Abbreviations: UAMS, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

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