About nutrition security

Nutrition security means having regular access to healthy, affordable food, along with the knowledge, time, and tools to prepare it. It's not just about having food — it's about having the right kind of food to support good health. The majority of soda tax funds have gone towards improving nutrition security through:

• Food security – offering free or low-cost food
• Food access – increasing places to buy healthy food
• Healthy retail – helping small stores sell fresh produce and other healthy foods
• Urban agriculture – growing food in the city
• Nutrition education – teaching people how to eat well

Many things can make it hard for people to eat healthy: not having enough money, not having a place to cook, living in areas without grocery stores, or not knowing how to cook nutritious meals but soda tax programs like Vouchers4Veggies are proven to help people eat more fruits and vegetables.* Using soda tax revenue to help low-income communities get healthy food and drinks is a powerful way to reduce the impact of the soda industry.

*Ridberg, R.A. et al (2020). “Fruit and Vegetable Vouchers in Pregnancy: Impact on Diet and Food Security.” Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2020.1778593. From SDDT Evaluation Report FY 20-21