Food provision among food relief agencies in rural Australia, and perceived barriers and enablers to provide healthy food

Abstract

Objective: Food insecurity affects 4-14% of Australians, and up to 82% of vulnerable groups. Food relief agencies commonly provide food parcels or food vouchers. Little research has been undertaken on food relief agencies within rural Australia. This study determined the type of food assistance provided by rural food relief agencies, and barriers and enablers to provide healthy food.

Design: Cross-sectional study, using telephone questionnaires with qualitative and quantitative aspects. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Setting: Rural New South Wales, Australia.

Participants: Representatives of 10 food relief agencies.

Main outcome measure(s): Types of food assistance and food provided, and the barriers and enablers to provide healthy food to clients.

Result: Most agencies provided food hampers and perishable and non-perishable food. Rural food relief agencies had a greater capacity to provide non-perishable compared to perishable food. Grains, breads and cereals, and canned fruit and vegetables were most popular. Nine key themes emerged including 'Ability to purchase and provide healthy food', 'Ability to regulate food purchased or chosen by clients', 'Financial constraints of the agency' and 'Lack of storage'.

Conclusion: There are many variables to consider in order to understand the capacity of rural food relief agencies to provide healthy food. There are also opportunities for food relief agencies to appraise current practices and make changes. Initiatives to improve storage facilities and food availability are key and include networking with local businesses, community organisations and government. Rural food relief agency clients could benefit from accessing food literacy and health programs like FoodREDi, OzHarvest NEST and SecondBite Fresh NED.

Keywords: charitable food sector; food assistance; food providers; perishable and non-perishable food; regional Australia.