OUR PROJECTS
Project App-etize
We are always looking to expand our services and take on new projects and challenges to better serve our clients. Our most recent endeavor is “Project App-etize,” a developing app that will be available on iOS and Android systems that allows users to scan fruits, vegetables, and other food products and learn details such as:
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Where it is grown
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What season it is grown in
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Preparation methods (I.e. Peeling or chopping)
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Recipe suggestions
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And more
We hope that this phone application will help to demystify unfamiliar fruits and vegetables for children in families using our services and make the act of eating more interactive, easy, and fun. We hope that learning what dishes fresh fruit and vegetables can be incorporated into can inspire continued healthy eating for adults as well.
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School Lunch Programs
We have created a school lunch program that for the first time takes, not only macronutrients, but also EDCs into consideration in our standards. We are partnering to set up outdoor dining areas with volunteers to serve fresh lunches. We are also partnering with local grocery stores to take the extra fruits and veggies to provide fresh snacks for kids, replacing packaged foods.
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We are also implementing a hands on education course on nutrition and cooking to help educate kids on fresh foods that they may not have tried before because they didn't have access. Often kids are afraid of trying new foods, so we are working to provide opportunities to explore options they might not have at home, in a safe environment. Cooking can also be a source of joy and community. We want to them to build a love for food with one another.
Grocery Delivery Services
In recent years, grocery delivery services have increased, especially since the pandemic. Many people who have local access to grocery stores have stopped going to the store, and prefer to order online. This has major potential to increase access for people in food apartheids who do not have local access to grocery stores.
In 2019 the USDA launched a pilot program partnering with the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) to allow participants to use food stamps to order online groceries. (USDA Launches SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot, 2019) While many grocery delivery services do discount SNAP participants, they do not necessarily cover the delivery fee. That is why our consulting firm is partnering with Farmbox direct, the first delivery service to provide free delivery to all SNAP participants as of October 2021. (FarmboxRx Becomes First Fresh Grocery Delivery Service to Accept SNAP/EBT Benefits, 2021). However, we recognize that increasing access to new ways of eating is not the only intervention needed. Many people in food apartheids may not be used to cooking with fresh produce.
We are launching a phone application with Farmbox to provide nutritional education on the ingredients in the Farmbox packages, along with user friendly recipes that specifically tailor to incorporating the ingredients in each box.
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Project Chompton Eats
In Summer of 2020, the school board of the Chompton Unified School District in Chompton, California reached out to Transformative Food Solutions to form a partnership to serve students and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first step in partnership formation is to assess the background of the community we seek to serve and work with community leaders to assess which of our services would be most beneficial and effective.
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After successful implementation of this program over the course of one school year, we extended the program to include the Summer 2021 months and extend into Fall 2021. As school returns to hybrid and in-person classes, we are currently working with the school board to tailor the program to these new circumstances.
This program was a huge success and we plan to offer it to other school districts in food apartheids, acknowledging that it must be tailored to each community to provide relevant solutions and local produce. Given our survey results, we believe that our program successfully provided culturally appropriate food that reduced consumption of processed and packaged foods drastically, therefore reducing EDC exposure. Whereas we do not have the capacity to measure specific biological outcomes before and after, we would like to partner with university researchers to measure levels of EDCs in children before and after implementation of our program. We believe that over the course of time, this program will also improve health outcomes related to EDC exposure.
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