Behavioral Economics to Implement Nutrition Ranking in Food Pantries

NCT05854212 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2023p001207
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 364
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test whether using behavioral economic strategies to promote healthy food choices on a food bank's online ordering platform increases the use of the traffic light nutrition ranking system and increases healthier food selections by the food agencies (e.g., food pantries) who use the food bank.

Conditions

Food Insecurity; Dietary Quality; Behavioral Economics; Implementation Science

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Healthy food agency orders from the food bank

  This will be the change from baseline to 12 months in the percentage of foods ordered (by weight) that have green labels.

  12 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Proportion of agencies that ever used the traffic light label sorting or filtering when ordering from the food bank

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

Behavioral economics-enhanced user interface

EXPERIMENTAL

Food agencies will see the behavioral economics (BE)-enhanced interface by default; food items will be sorted with green-labeled items listed first, followed by yellow, then red. If users search for a specific item type (e.g., chicken) the results returned for that item type will also be sorted so that green-labeled items are listed first. At any time during the ordering episode, users will have the option to switch from the BE-enhanced default to an alternate sorting or filtering choice, such as alphabetical or cost. Users will be shown the percent of items (by weight) that are labeled green in a prominent location on the ordering screen. The percent green-labeled items in the order will appear alongside messaging reporting the average percent green-labeled items ordered by GBFB pantries that rank in the top 10% based on this metric. Agencies will receive monthly emails from GBFB about SWAP, describing why common items receive certain SWAP rankings (e.g., item is yellow vs green).

Behavioral: Behavioral economics-enhanced user interface

Usual user interface

NO INTERVENTION

When agency staff log on to the food bank platform, by default, foods are listed in alphabetical order. If they wish, users can change how items are sorted or filtered using pull-down menus and check-boxes, including the ability to have items sorted or filtered based on traffic light labels. As orders are created, an information section at the top of the page is updated with details on the order weight and cost. Agencies will not receive emails about SWAP.

Interventions

Behavioral economics-enhanced user interface BEHAVIORAL

The intervention changes the ordering platform visible to food agencies using behavioral economics strategies to promote healthier food choices.

Behavioral economics-enhanced user interface

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 90 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Food agencies that order food from the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) online ordering platform.

You may not qualify if:

• Food agencies that do not order food from the GBFB online platform within 2 months of the start of the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Massachusetts General Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, United States

Location

Central Study Contacts

Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH

CONTACT

617-724-4608; athorndike@mgh.harvard.edu

Douglas Levy, PhD

CONTACT

617-643-3595; dlevy3@mgh.harvard.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Outcomes will be automatically obtained from the food bank database.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor of Medicine

Model Details: Food agencies will be randomized to one of two interfaces on the online food bank ordering platform.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 3, 2023
• First Posted: May 11, 2023
• Study Start (Estimated): January 1, 2027
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2028
• Last Updated: February 2, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)