Neighborhood Food Watch

Join Neighborhood Food Watch and advocate for better food choices!  The Neighborhood Food Watch (NFW) is CHC’s community campaign to provide South Los Angeles residents with the information and tools needed to take action to improve the quality of food in their local stores. NFW promotes access to nutritious foods and the opportunity to select the healthy food needed for longer and healthier lives. The campaign offers a newsletter to keep you current on important issues, training and community events to improve business practices and local food policy.

The Neighborhood Food Watch Campaign provides active members with an online resource center to connect and share information. Members can interact with community leaders and organizations making a change in South LA; read and post stories on both good and inadequate shopping experiences; receive information on diet and eating healthy; and learn about the laws and standards for grocery stores.

Background
Read CHC's policy brief Does Race Define What's in the Shopping Cart? that was the catalyst for the Neighborhood Food Watch. Through this ground-breaking, multi-year study, Community Health Councils with its partner USC found that race, geography, and the availability of healthy foods play a substantial role in determining what African Americans in Los Angeles eat. To read CHC's report describing the food desert in South LA that appeared in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, see Improving the Nutritional Resource Environment for Healthy Living.

Do you know what the expiration dates on food really mean?
See CHC's Expired Foods Brochure for an overview of regulations for food freshness at the grocery store. What do you do if you find expired food? Take action! Follow these steps: 1) Record your experience: the type of product, today's date, and the expiration date. 2) Take the item to the store manager. 3) The second time, notify the supermarket's headquarters. 4) The third time, notify your local health department. The health department gathers complaints to distribute to the appropriate government agency for follow-up. See our brochure for supermarket and health department contact information.

Newsletters
April 30, 2010. Fresh & Easy Market Comes to South LA. First Lady Obama Introduces Anti-Obesity Program. Tip of the Month. Upcoming Events.




South Los Angeles Farmers Markets

Neighborhood Food Watch Blog
Read the NFW blog below and send us your comments or questions about the Neighborhood Food Watch.