Objective Efforts to improve the nutritional quality and health promotion in the charitable food system have been undertaken. Though methods exist to track these efforts in terms of food banks’ inventory, there are not research-tested tools to assess, monitor, and influence policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes. The study objective was to develop and evaluate a novel assessment tool that could be used to evaluate a food bank’s efforts to improve the promotion of health and nutritious foods. Design The study had five phases: 1) initial development, 2) iterative review and revisions, 3) pilot testing, 4) content validity assessment, and 5) inter-rater and test-retest assessment. The Food Bank Health and Nutrition Assessment (FB-HANA) was drafted after reviewing existing policies, nutrition-focused charitable food systems guidance, and similar tools for food pantries. Setting Midwestern United States. Participants Eleven food banks. Results Stakeholders and pilot testers provided initial feedback to refine the FB-HANA’s flow, ease of completion, and collection of contextual information. External experts rated the FB-HANA and each of the eight objectives as content valid. A set of two assessments completed by 26 community-based professionals, employed by Extension and 14 food bank staff across 11 food banks, supported moderate to excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability for the FB-HANA overall, and each of its objectives. Conclusions Evidence suggests that the FB-HANA can be used by either food bank or community-based professionals, such as Extension staff, to provide a perspective on ways food banks promote health and nutrition through PSE approaches.

PurposeTo determine if photography is a reliable data collection tool for measuring the food intakes of high school students who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Secondly, to compare the energy and macronutrient content of the NSLP meals with meals eaten when not at school.MethodResearchers visited one high school in Illinois and measured the amounts of food consumed by the students using photographs of before and after food trays and weighed food wastes for comparisons. Three researchers not involved with the weighing of the food wastes, estimated the percentage wastes from the photographs. Estimated percentage wastes were converted into gram amounts by using the actual gram weight of the food items served. Actual wastes were weighed and compared with the estimated gram wastes. Students completed a demographic questionnaire and a three day food record which was used to determine the contribution of calories and macronutrients consumed when not at school. Twenty‐two students from grades 9‐12 participated in this pilot study, mean age was 16.41±1.30.Results High inter‐rater reliability was found for estimated and actual gram amounts of food consumed (r= 0.957, p<0.001). Paired samples t‐test of calories and macronutrients indicated significant differences (p<0.05) for meals eaten when not at school with those provided by the NSLP lunch meal. Overall, the NSLP meals provided fewer calories and macronutrients.ConclusionPhotography can be used to determine the food consumption of the NSLP participants in future studies. Contrary to earlier studies, the NSLP meals provided fewer calories and macronutrients than did the meals eaten when not at school. Future studies using a larger sample size are needed.