Food Podcast: How food banks aim to provide healthy choices, improve diets

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Food Podcast: How food banks aim to provide healthy choices, improve diets

Tribune-Review | Wednesday, January 8, 2020 8:00 a.m.

Pittsburgh Pirates players Trevor Williams and Josh Bell assist in a Produce to People event on the South Side in August 2019.

Providing food for people who are food insecure is one thing.

Providing food that ensures a well-balanced diet and prevents diseases is another.

Erin Spangler, nutrition and wellness coordinator at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, joined the food bank’s Brian Gulish on this week’s Food Podcast to discuss her role in creating nutrition education resources and promoting health options with its network of pantries.

LISTEN: Erin Spangler, food bank nutrition and wellness coordinator

In addition, the food bank enacted a wellness policy last year in hopes of providing healthier food choices. The policy includes axing foods with added sugars from the inventory.

“Our wellness policy is a statement of our organizational commitment to the health and well-being of the people we serve,” Spangler said.

For the first time in its nearly 40-year history, the food bank last year distributed more than 10 million pounds of fresh produce.

The food bank also received funding from Feeding America for strategies to encourage people to make healthy choices.

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