Food and beverage environment analysis and monitoring system: a reliability study in the school food and beverage environment.
States and school districts around the country are developing policies that set nutrition standards for competitive foods and beverages sold outside of the US Department of Agriculture's reimbursable school lunch program. However, few tools exist for monitoring the implementation of these new policies. The objective of this research was to develop a computerized assessment tool, the Food and Beverage Environment Analysis and Monitoring System (FoodBEAMS), to collect data on the competitive school food environment and to test the inter-rater reliability of the tool among research and nonresearch professionals. FoodBEAMS was used to collect data in spring 2007 on the competitive foods and beverages sold in 21 California high schools. Adherence of the foods and beverages to California's competitive food and beverage nutrition policies for schools (Senate Bills 12 and 965) was determined using the data collected by both research and nonresearch professionals. The inter-rater reliability between the data collectors was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Researcher vs researcher and researcher vs nonresearcher inter-rater reliability was high for both foods and beverages, with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from .972 to .987. Results of this study provide evidence that FoodBEAMS is a promising tool for assessing and monitoring adherence to nutrition standards for competitive foods sold on school campuses and can be used reliably by both research and nonresearch professionals.
Bullock
Sally Lawrence
SL
Samuels & Associates, Inc, Oakland CA 94612, USA.
Craypo
Lisa
L
Clark
Sarah E
SE
Barry
Jason
J
Samuels
Sarah E
SE
D000293:Adolescent; D001628:Beverages / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005509:Food Dispensers, Automatic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005522:Food Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards