ORCID
- Clare Pettinger: 0000-0001-7182-9463
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Many deprived communities in the UK have low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, leading to poor health outcomes. Fresh Street is a place-based voucher approach that enables households to buy FV from local independent suppliers. Fresh Street Community embeds this approach within community hubs, thus enabling households to use vouchers to purchase FV from community centres. This paper explores the enablers and barriers influencing the uptake of Fresh Street Community in two UK urban areas of high deprivation. Methods: This three-phase exploratory qualitative study was informed by ‘co-production’ with community researchers at both sites: (1) literature review and observations identifying enablers and barriers in FV voucher schemes; (2) semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the research team and community food researchers to ‘validate’ the factors identified in phase 1 and to develop explanatory narratives for these factors; and (3) participatory and thematic analysis of the enablers and barriers to finalise the identified factors. Results: A total of ten enablers and sixteen barriers were validated across both sites. However, differences in local contexts and operational procedures impacted future FV voucher scheme implementation. The important role of community food researchers to engage participants and support the synthesis of findings is also presented. Conclusions: This study offers practical and critical insights for researchers, community food researchers, and practitioners on factors that influence a community centre-based FV voucher scheme to address nutritional inequalities.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2025-01-29
Publication Title
Nutrients
Volume
17
Issue
3
ISSN
2072-6643
Acceptance Date
2025-01-25
Deposit Date
2025-01-30
Funding
This research is funded by an additional funding stream (UKRI/BBSRC Transforming UK Food Systems Programme: Health Inequalities in the Food System) associated with the project entitled Co-production of Healthy, Sustainable Food Systems for Deprived Communities (FoodSEqual, BB/V004905/1), one of four consortium projects focused on food system transformation funded by the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund 2021–2026.
Keywords
community engagement, community food researchers, community-based interventions, fresh street, fruit and vegetables, health equality, voucher scheme
Recommended Citation
Pan, J., Pettinger, C., Relton, C., Howard, L., Garg, P., Puranik, M., Thomas, M., Bradbeer, J., Sutton, R., & Wagstaff, C. (2025) 'Exploring Enablers of and Barriers to a Fruit and Vegetable Voucher Scheme in England:: Insights from the Fresh Street Community Feasibility Study', Nutrients, 17(3). Available at: 10.3390/nu17030483
