With the help of data analysis, organizations can meet the growing need for fresh food.

When most of us think of a food shelf, we have a very specific image in mind of stacked cans and boxed items. But fresh food has become a priority for both food shelves in Minnesota and their clients. In the 2022 Minnesota Food Shelf Client Survey, more than 7,000 food shelf shoppers indicated that they most wanted to see "fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy and eggs, "said Kate Burggraff, executive director of the Foundation for Essential Needs (FFEN).

Marissa Elliott, director of outreach and health initiatives at NorthPoint Health and Wellness, also noted the importance of having fresh food available at food shelves.

"In North Minneapolis, we're in a food desert, and access to healthy, fresh food is very limited. So we (at NorthPoint's food shelf) have made a very intentional effort to (prioritize) that fresh food," Elliott said.

The food shelf at NorthPoint Health and Wellness is one of more than 200 in Minnesota working with FFEN, which uses data analysis to improve food shelf efficiency in various areas, including food sourcing. This is especially important in a field with a significant number of volunteers who may not have specialized training in hunger relief, said Sarah Colburn, communications and development manager at FFEN. According to the 2022 Minnesota Food Shelf Manager Survey, 35% of food shelves that responded were completely volunteer-run.

FFEN provides participating food shelves with a food sourcing analysis report every six months, which can start conversations leading to changes in operations. One food shelf FFEN worked with recently wanted to focus on providing more fresh foods, Burggraff said. The data they received from FFEN, however, showed that most of their spending had gone to "meals and sides" - a category that makes up what you'd see at a typical food shelf, like "mac and cheese (or) chicken noodle soup."

"When they started to think about it, they realized that the space that they had for meals and sides was larger than many of the other food categories that they wanted to prioritize," said Burggraff, noting that if food shelf staff had never looked at the data, they might not have realized their spending didn't align with their priorities.

Colburn added that "Without data, you're left to look at the shelves and go, 'Oh, we're out of tomato sauce this week, we should order more tomato sauce, because Susie who ran this before me ordered tomato sauce.'...Without that data, people can kind of just get in the habit of doing what's always been done at the site."

In addition to food shelf analysis, FFEN is able to provide food shelves with more in-depth consulting, along with education on food shelf practices for those without expertise in hunger relief. That can be especially useful in the case of dealing with fresh food, which has a limited shelf life compared to the usual boxed and canned offerings.

"In a food shop that has more perishable food, the focus has to be on moving that food that day because you're getting more fresh food the next day you're open or your next delivery," said Burggraff. "So instead of simply offering that food, you might say, 'Take all that you can use,' or 'every family (can) take up to five bags (of) salads versus just grabbing one.'"

NorthPoint's food shelf began working with FFEN two years ago, when, Elliott said, they were seeing a higher demand for services. Before NorthPoint's spending report, according to Elliott, a large part of the food at its food shelf was purchased rather than being sourced from different areas, including food rescues, where food that is safe to eat but unfit to be sold is donated by grocery stores, along with food from the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP.

"(FFEN's food sourcing analysis reports) helped us see that we need to dive deeper into those other streams," said Elliott, noting that NorthPoint's food shelf now picks up rescued food six days a week instead of three, which has been more cost-effective. They've also made efforts to think more carefully about what to purchase - choosing more inexpensive offerings while maintaining quality.

FFEN, which started in 2011 and expanded its focus statewide in 2013, is one of 12 organizations supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota's Center for Race and Health Equity's Food Justice Funding Initiative. This initiative provides participating organizations with financial and technical assistance. (Though Blue Cross Blue Shield supports MinnPost's race and health equity coverage, the organization does not have input in editorial decisions.)

Jill Chamberlain, a community health and health equity senior program manager at the Center for Race and Health Equity, said that the reason for supporting FFEN's work was because FFEN's data contains insights allowing for food shelves to take into account client wants and needs, including culturally relevant foods.

"Part of food justice is having access to culturally appropriate food that you recognize what to do with, and with (FFEN's) food shelf assessment, when they have that data and know how much food you've been getting, the type of food (and) the type of clients you have, they're putting that all together in a really easy to understand report," said Chamberlain.

Colburn also noted that awareness of relevant foods -- combined with a client service model, where food shelves are set up like a grocery store with clients able to freely pick and choose items -- creates a more dignified shopping experience.

"Handing people a bag or a box is a very different feeling than allowing people to choose," said Colburn, noting that if a household doesn't need papayas or find them culturally relevant, having a papaya given to them in a bag from a food shelf "perpetuates food waste," along with a "lack of dignity," where people have an item in their homes that is a "constant reminder that (they are) in need and a constant reminder that (they are) not in a place in (their) life where (they are) able to choose something as simple as this fruit item."

"Our approach, along with FFEN's approach, is really to work with and not at the community," Elliott said, referring to NorthPoint's food shelf.

"We want to make sure that what we're providing is relevant, it's familiar, it's healthy, (and) it's delicious, because your food should still taste good."