Advocacy & Food Archives - World Food Policy Center

E290: Grading the Biggest US Grocery Stores on Healthy Offerings

January 15, 2026

Do you ever wonder whether your grocery store cares about whether you have a healthy diet? Every time we shop or read advertisement flyers, food retailers influence our diets through product offerings, pricings, promotions, and of course store design. Think of the candy at the checkout counters. When I walk into my Costco, over on the right there’s this wall of all these things they would like me to buy and I’m sure it’s all done very intentionally. And so, if we’re so influenced by these things, is it in our interest? Today we’re going to discuss a report card of sorts for food retailers and the big ones – Walmart, Kroger, Ahold Delhaize USA, which is a very large holding company that has a variety of supermarket chains. And this is all about an index produced by the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNi), a global foundation challenging the food industry investors and policy makers to shape a healthier food system. The US Retail Assessment 2025 Report evaluates how these three businesses influence your access to nutritious and affordable foods through their policies, commitments, and actual performance. The Access to Nutrition Initiatives’ director of Policy and Communications, Katherine Pittore is here with us to discuss the report’s findings. We’ll also speak with Eva Greenthal, who oversees the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Federal Food Labeling work.

E283: Taylor Hanson’s Food On The Move

September 24, 2025

Today we’re joined by Tulsa, Oklahoma, native Taylor Hanson, who at age nine with two of his brothers formed the band Hanson. Within five years, they released their initial album there were Grammy nominations and one of their songs hit number one in 27 countries. But more pertinent to our discussion today is Taylor’s commitment to social change, which includes work he’s done on extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and the nonprofit grassroots organization addressing food insecurity he founded called Food On The Move. Food On The Move provides access, education and innovative solutions to transform food deserts and the legacy issues created by food insecurity. Since its founding, this organization has distributed millions of pounds of fresh produce to members of the Oklahoma community as a leader in the movement to reshape sustainable local food systems.

E275: Against the Grain – A Plea for Regenerative Ag

June 16, 2025

I was at a professional meeting recently and I heard an inspiring and insightful and forward-looking talk by journalist and author Roger Thurow. Roger was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for 30 years, 20 of them as a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa. Roger has written a number of books including one on world hunger and another what I thought was a particularly important book entitled The First 1000 Days, A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children and the World. Now comes a new book on farmers around the world and how they are coping with the unprecedented changes they face. It was hearing about his book that inspired me to invite Mr. Thurow to this podcast and thankfully he accepted. His new book is entitled Against the Grain: How Farmers Around the Globe are transforming Agriculture to Nourish the World and Heal the Planet.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Voice of Farming |

E271: Grappling with digital food and beverage marketing to youth

May 13, 2025

So even the people that follow the topic closely are stunned by the digital landscape that engulfs our children, how quickly it evolves, and the potential social cost. Two people in a unique position to explain all this are our guest today, Jeffrey Chester and Kathryn Montgomery, both from the Center for Digital Democracy. Jeff is executive director of the Center, and Kathryn is its research director and senior strategist, as well as professor emerita of communication at American University. Jeff and Kathryn have been pioneers in this work and have been uniquely strong voices for protecting children.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Children Food Preferences | Food Industry Behavior & Marketing | Screen time and Food |

E266: What’s next for school meal quality?

March 13, 2025

The food and nutrition landscape in our schools is really important. School meals affect the health, wellbeing, energy, vitality, and ability to learn for millions and millions of children. And for those whose family struggled to buy food, the importance of school meals cannot be overstated. This makes decisions about what foods are served in schools and where they come from. Highly consequential and raises issues about national and state nutrition policies, the influence of big food companies in shaping this picture and lots more. It’s a good time to unravel all this, which we can do today. Thanks to two experts with us. Dr. Marlene Schwartz is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy health at the University of Connecticut. Mara Fleishman is CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, where she has been a leader advancing school food change, advocating for scratch cook meals that promote children’s health and for more sustainable food systems.

E264: Citizen engagement in post-Brexit UK food and farming policy

February 17, 2025

Today we’re exploring civil society’s efforts to shape the food system and land use in the United Kingdom. Our guest today is Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Food, Farming, and Countryside Commission (FFCC). The deeply grassroots work of the commission brings people together to find practical solutions to climate, nature, and health challenges. The goal is to shape fairer and more sustainable food systems and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside.

E263: Explore the Daily Table non profit grocery store model

February 5, 2025

Today, we’re going to explore Daily Table, an innovative non profit grocery chain dedicated to providing fresh, convenient, and nutritious food affordable to everyone, even those on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In today’s economic climate, where rising food prices are impacting households across the country, the concept of a non profit grocery store seems to fill a real need. Our guest today is Daily Table CEO, Sasha Purpura, a software engineer who spent 15 years in the tech industry and product management and development roles.

E262: Impact of skimming and shimming fraud on SNAP recipients

January 30, 2025

On our podcast, we have often talked about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In many of those conversations, we’ve talked about the benefits and eligibility, and ways to improve the work that SNAP does to help low-income families meet their food needs. In today’s podcast, we’re going to turn our attention to a particular challenge, and it’s the SNAP skimming fraud. To help us understand this and the larger context of SNAP, we have the great pleasure of talking with Salaam Bhatti, who is the director of SNAP at the Food Research and Action Center, or FRAC.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Food Insecurity | Food Policy |

E258: Do ‘market driven epidemics’ drive your food choices?

December 18, 2024

For much of history, the word ‘epidemic’ applied to infectious diseases. Large numbers of cases of disease caused by organisms such as bacteria and viruses that spread through water, air, or other means, sometimes transmitted from person to person, or back and forth between people and animals. Then came epidemics of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease – diseases occurring in very large numbers and created not by infectious agents, but by drivers in our day to day lives, such as a bad food environment. A new paper was just published in the PLOS global health literature that I found fascinating. It focuses on another use of the concept of epidemics: market driven epidemics. Let’s find out what these are and find out a little bit more about their implications for our health and wellbeing. Our guests today are two of the authors of that paper. Dr. Jonathan Quick is a physician and expert on global health and epidemics. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Global Health Institute. Eszter Rimanyi joins us as well. She works on chronic disease and addiction epidemiology at Duke university.

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition

November 21, 2024

Now more than ever, it’s important to challenge the world’s food and beverage manufacturers to address nutrition issues like obesity and undernutrition. Today, we’re going to discuss the 2024 Global Access to Nutrition Index, a very important ranking system that evaluates companies on their nutrition related policies, product portfolios, marketing practices, and engagement with stakeholders. The index is an accountability strategy produced by ATNI, the Access to Nutrition Initiative, a global nonprofit foundation seeking to drive market change for nutrition. Our guest today is Greg Garrett, Executive Director of ATNI.

Podcast Topic: Advocacy & Food

The Leading Voices in Food

Podcast Topic: Advocacy & Food

E290: Grading the Biggest US Grocery Stores on Healthy Offerings

E283: Taylor Hanson’s Food On The Move

E275: Against the Grain – A Plea for Regenerative Ag

E271: Grappling with digital food and beverage marketing to youth

E266: What’s next for school meal quality?

E264: Citizen engagement in post-Brexit UK food and farming policy

E263: Explore the Daily Table non profit grocery store model

E262: Impact of skimming and shimming fraud on SNAP recipients

E258: Do ‘market driven epidemics’ drive your food choices?

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition