Volume 2, Issue 6

The Final Forkful

This late-month newsletter covers exciting nutrition network news that happened this month.

From the Nutrition and Aging

Resource Center

2023 Summer Webinar Series: EVALUATION

Using Data and Satisfaction Surveys to Solicit the Voice of the Customer in Diverse and Culturally Appropriate Menu Planning

Institutions that provide meals to diverse populations can be challenged with securing data and program participant input to create menus that are appealing, culturally appropriate, within financial and supply constraints, and produce minimal waste. Securing program participant input is essential to ensure that menus and meals provided are adequate to promote maximum acceptance and meet program participants' needs. In this webinar, Dr. Munoz will discuss how to utilize and evaluate data to make menu and food system modifications that meet institutional constraints and cultural and nutritional needs as well as discuss the use of customer satisfaction surveys as a way to obtain the voice of the customer for menu and meal planning.

Learning Objectives:

Utilize and evaluate data to make menu and food system modifications that meet institutional constraints and cultural and nutritional needs
Understand the use of customer satisfaction surveys as a tool to collect data to make system changes
Implement purposeful quality improvement activities

Learn More - Meet the Speaker

Meet the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center Team!

Meet Liz Fridley, the Health Promotion Director for the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, in this short video. Follow the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center on social media as Liz will be answering additional questions sent in by YOU on our Instagram stories!

Be sure to say "hi" to Liz at the USAging Conference in July.

Join us Friday, July 14 at 2pm ET, for an informative webinar on Reducing Sodium in Senior Meals: Tips and Tricks. Expert panelists include a chef, a foodservice provider who offers low sodium meals, and a senior meal program that prepares its own low sodium meals. Discover tips and tricks for cooking low sodium meals that taste great; identifying and ordering lower sodium food products; and scratch cooking cost-effective low sodium meals that are appealing to older adults. We provide resources and easy next steps for increasing flavor and reducing sodium in your senior meal program. Join us for valuable insights into promoting heart health and overall wellness in older adults!

ican! Modules Have Launched!

The Nutrition and Aging Resource Center launched ican! (Instructional Campus on Aging Nutrition). ican! is a series of interactive training modules that includes information on the Older Americans Act, partnerships, operating a nutrition services program, menu planning, diversifying funding, and more.

The target audience is staff and volunteers of congregate and home delivered meal programs, Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), local services providers, State Units on Aging, Registered Dietitians, and others who interact with older adults living in the community. Participants receive a certificate of completion after each module is completed.

To sign up and participate in the course, please visit https://acl.gov/senior-nutrition/ican

New Resources Available on the Website!

See what is new! New and updated resources included on acl.gov/senior-nutrition:

Nutrition and Aging News From the Network

Building Networks to Alleviate Food Insecurity

Join June 28 for an interactive webinar, Building Networks to Alleviate Food Insecurity from 11:00am-12:30pm ET. This live workshop will take attendees through creating a “food security resource guide” to serve the unique communities and populations they serve. Learn more and register.

Virtual NIH Multigenerational Nutrition Influences Workshop

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Nutrition Research and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are offering a Virtual NIH Multigenerational Nutrition Influences Workshop July 12 and 13, 2023. This workshop will bring together experts in food and nutrition as well as experts in family and generational health. The purpose is to examine challenges and opportunities in regard to nutrition and diet influences across generations. Learn more and register.

Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity

The Office of Minority Health is offering a funding opportunity for two cooperative agreements to support the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity. The purpose would be to support efforts in addressing indigenous health disparities and solutions in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities. View the funding opportunities and apply.

The first public meeting of the Biden-Harris Administration’s President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition will be held on June 27, 2023, from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm ET, at the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington, DC. The meeting will also be viewable via livestream on hhs.gov/live.

The focus of this inaugural meeting will be for the new Council members, who were nominated to serve on the Council by President Biden in March. This link is external to health.gov., to discuss priorities for the remainder of the Council’s term. The Council’s co-chairs, José Andrés and Elena Delle Donne, were appointed by President Biden and sworn in last year.

Learn more.

Emergency Preparedness Blueprint

No matter where you live, disasters happen. How do they affect you? How can you be ready? Take the time to prepare now. From checklists to procedures and communications, the Emergency Preparedness Blueprint covers it all. There are worksheets to adapt for your organization to focus on priority actions and to keep others safe.

This project was supported in part by grant number 90PPNU0002 from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.