DEVELOPING EVIDENCED-BASED GUIDELINES FOR INCORPORATING INFORMATION AND INCREASED OFFERINGS OF SUSTAINABLE DIET ON RESTAURANT MENUS

Thisproposalis aligned to the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Nutrition Innovation Strategy of helping consumers "seek and identify" healthier food options. The long-term goal of this project is to enable the restaurant industry to offer a larger range of healthier and environmentally sustainable meals, and to provide them with the tools to adequately signal to consumers the health and environmental impacts of meal choices. This long-term goal addresses FDA's ongoing efforts to improve sustainable diets (DGAC, 2015) among Americans, particularly as expenditure on food-away-from-home increases. Successful completion of this Seed grant will lead to a standard grant with a national scope.Specific objectives of this proposal are:1. Evaluate consumers' willingness to pay for access to health and environmental footprint information on restaurant menus.2. Determine the challenges and obstacles restaurants face to offer information on, and choices for, healthier and environmentally sustainable meals.3. Identify feasible training and extension programs that would provide guidance to restaurants on how to offer healthier and sustainable meals, and associated information.