Sandhills Community Kitchen Evaluation: Using the Veggie Meter

Sandhills Central Community Kitchen Evaluation: Using the Veggie Meter

This clinical trial will evaluate the development, implementation, and impact of a central kitchen preparing and serving meals to child care centers in rural Harnett County, North Carolina. The goals of the kitchen are to improve meal quality, reduce workload on child care providers, create a sustainable business model, and provide a source of community economic development. Our evaluation of the Sandhills Central Community Kitchen is important to better understand how this model can be replicated to serve rural communities. We will recruit 20 child care centers (10 intervention and 10 as a control group); we estimate that each child care center will serve 40 children. We will collect baseline data at the beginning of the project from all 20 centers, and will repeat data collection at the end of the project to assess changes. Data will be collected through parent surveys, surveys and interviews with child care center directors, surveys and focus groups with teachers, interviews with the church pastor and community leaders where the kitchen is based, surveys of kitchen staff, nutritional analysis of menu data, collection and analysis of food costs, and through use of the "Veggie Meter" (a non-invasive instrument that assesses changes in intake of fruits and vegetables by measuring skin carotenoids) with child care center children and staff. Our goal is to document the impacts of central kitchens in terms of nutritional and economic benefits in order to create a replicable model.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Diet, Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Child Care Centers Served Meals Prepared by Central Kitchen

Detailed Description

This clinical trial will evaluate the development, implementation, and impact of a central kitchen preparing and serving meals to child care centers in rural Harnett County, North Carolina. The goals of the kitchen are to improve meal quality, reduce workload on child care providers, create a sustainable business model, and provide a source of community economic development. Our evaluation of the Sandhills Central Community Kitchen is important to better understand how this model can be replicated to serve rural communities. We will recruit 20 child care centers (10 intervention and 10 as a control group); we estimate that each child care center will serve 40 children. We will collect baseline data at the beginning of the project from all 20 centers, and will repeat data collection at the end of the project to assess changes. Data will be collected through parent surveys, surveys and interviews with child care center directors, surveys and focus groups with teachers, interviews with the church pastor and community leaders where the kitchen is based, surveys of kitchen staff, nutritional analysis of menu data, collection and analysis of food costs, and through use of the "Veggie Meter" (a non-invasive instrument that assesses changes in intake of fruits and vegetables by measuring skin carotenoids) with child care center children and staff. Our goal is to document the impacts of central kitchens in terms of nutritional and economic benefits in order to create a replicable model.

Skin carotenoid status (SCS) will be used to measure F&V intake among pre-schoolers. Carotenoids, the colorful phytonutrients found in vegetables are correlated with F&V intake. A higher carotenoid level is correlated with higher F&V intake; conversely lower carotenoid levels are associated with lower F&V intake over the past month. To measure carotenoid level, researchers will use the Veggie Meter®. The Veggie Meter is a small, portable, non-invasive device that assesses SCS via pressure-mediated reflection spectroscopy. This is more accurate than self-reported diet among children.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, 27695
      • North Carolina State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria: Must be a child enrolled at a child care center that purchases meals from a central kitchen.

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Exclusion Criteria: No exclusion criteria.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Child Care Centers Served Meals Prepared by Central Kitchen; Children ages 3-5 attending a child care center that purchases meals prepared by a central kitchen.	Other: Child Care Centers Served Meals Prepared by Central Kitchen; The child care centers who are served by the central kitchen will receive meals that include locally sourced fresh fruits and vegetables to serve their staff and children.
No Intervention: Child Care Centers Not Served Meals Prepared by Central Kitchen; Children ages 3-5 attending a child care center that does not purchase meals prepared by a central kitchen.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in produce intake	Measured through "Veggie Meter" scans of child care center children and staff, which measure the level of carotenoids in the skin.	Will be assessed pre-intervention and one year later.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: North Carolina State University
• Collaborators: Duke University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Dara Bloom, PhD, North Carolina State University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): January 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): January 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Anticipated): January 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 27, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): August 10, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): December 12, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 8, 2022
• Last Verified: December 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 24444

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No