Nicoleta Lupu

MIS 101

Professor Spiros

Systems Development Web Project

Problem:

The problem that needs an adequate amount of attention in the United States of America is the need to make healthy produce and products accessible to lower-income people. There are currently 1.9 billion adults who are overweight or obese, while 462 million are underweight.

Thousands of statistics and articles prove that lower and sometimes even middle class families have less access to healthy food due to its price and availability. “Low income is associated with a poor quality dietary intake. Compared to those with higher income, lower income individuals consume fewer fruits and vegetables, more sugar-sweetened beverages and have lower overall diet quality (1).” It has been proven multiple times through different sources like food purchase data, examinations, and statistics that some middle and lower-income households purchase less healthful foods, fewer fruits and vegetables and more sugary beverages compared to households with higher income. My web page will discuss ways that impoverished families could have access to healthy and whole foods. It will inform human beings about how many families are in need of healthy and nutritious foods. Not only that, it will be a web page where people could come and find a solution to any of their concerns regarding malnutrition, fake food propaganda, FDA approved businesses, healthy recipes, and local farmer’s markets locations based on their zip code. The Internet is the ideal medium for addressing this problem because it has the capability of reaching billions around the whole world. With just one click, you can find the nearest location of a farmer’s market, and with just a couple of clicks, you can find out how to cook affordable and quick meals at home that cost less than $50 for the whole family. With the help of social media and other media services, this web page could help thousands of families who are uninformed about how the food and drug companies are targeting them to consume unhealthy foods, and then to purchase pills and antibiotics to cure themselves from diseases like diabetes, cancer, and so on. There are countless associations and organizations that were created to help low-income families with affordable and healthy foods. However, why are those so-called “organizations” being sponsored by the same food companies like PepsiCo, McDonalds, and Johnson&Johnson, that are causing these diseases in the first place? This is a question that will remain unanswered and hidden for as long as possible. The Internet has the capability of spreading these facts to people of all classes, and to break through the millions of lies that the FDA and other huge corporations have been hiding from people for years. The media, television, and radio together is the magic wand that could reveal the truth, and become a source of help for those who need it in times of uncertainty.

Solution Ideas:

Cultivate your own garden – An easy and affordable solution to eating whole foods is to grow your own produce. With some time and effort, you may be able to grow your own herbs, sprouts, tomatoes, onions, and many more delicious crops. Having a continuous supply at home saves you money at the store.
Expand access to farm products – The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture, is aimed to provide poor households more purchasing power. More consumers will increase the demand for agricultural products, which will in turn benefit the farmers or producers. The government can also be instrumental in reducing prices at more affordable levels by helping farmers reduce their costs. These can be accomplished through grants and subsidies and non-financial support services such as technical and technological assistance.
Pass policies that require food corporations to be transparent with the ingredients used in their products - Even though this solution might seem out of reach and miscellaneous, people need to be aware of what their day-to-day products are containing. The FDA is already in charge of examining all products that are being marketed and sold in our grocery markets, but there will always be exclusions and bribes happening just so a company could reach their goals and make profit.
Provide healthy and fresh food at work and school locations - When healthy food is not available, people may settle for foods that are higher in calories and lower in nutritional value. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. The food that I was provided in my high school and college years was high in calories and low in nutritions. With such easy access to highly caloric foods, most of my classmates would reach for that food, and no wonder why 95% of children and teenagers, and now growing adults are struggling with diabetes, cancer, and obesity.
Distribute vending machines in public areas containing healthy snacks and drinks – If one of the causes for such diseases is no access to healthy and nutritious food, then why not make it more easy and accessible to all people. Allocating such vending machines with nutritious and healthy snacks and drinks around locations where there is high traffic is multi purposeful. Not only for the profit that the vending machine curators will make, but also for the welfare of people who will have immediate access to fresh and healthy food. In this case, more and more people will reach for the healthy and nutritious food and drinks available on site.
Driving consumer demand for healthy foods – Encouraging healthy food choices using behavioral design practices is another way to resolve the problem. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has already started to implement the use of behavioral design practices (strategies that influence choice or action) to help consumers select healthier foods and beverages. These practices can include preparation, presentation, placement, pricing, and promotion.
Organize local farmer’s markets – By having more local farmer’s markets in more locations around Sacramento will help the farmers get exposure, gain more customers, and make more profit, while the people will have the possibility of buying fresh products for an affordable price.
FDA regulations imposing on big corporations – The Food and Drug Administration needs to have stricter regulations on huge corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, etc. Since they have been in the industry for a while, the amount of power, money, and knowledge they have is incredibly easy to manipulate people to earn their profit. The huge misconception then is why the Associations for Cancer and Obesity are both sponsored by the companies that are making people sick in the first place. Having stricter laws and more benevolent people working for the FDA would be a solution in solving this dilemma.
Mandatory nutrition classes – Since millions of people are unaware of what a healthy diet looks like, I suggest schools enforce mandatory nutrition classes into their agenda. Not only will this prevent any future diseases, but this will also teach young adults what their diet and nutrition needs to look like if they want to live a long and healthy life.
Expose the truth through the media – This is the actual solution to the problem that I would really want to be true and which must be done immediately for all the people. Knowing the truth will dissipate all the confusion and the blaming of unnecessary people. Thousands of food corporations have been lying to their customers about the true nutritional facts of their products, just so that they could keep rolling in more money. However, in reality, people are consuming products thinking they are healthy, good, and safe for the human body.

Objective Definition:

The idea that I chose to move forward with is solution #4, and that is to provide healthy and fresh food at work and school locations.

3 S.M.A.R.T. Objectives:

● I expect in the next 12 months that more than 65% of schools and businesses in the Sacramento region will provide healthy and nutritious meals and snacks to all of its students and employees.

● During the next 16 months more than 120 local farms will work closely with businesses and schools in Sacramento and other close locations to provide fresh produce to all students and employees.

● In less than 14 months, I can expect the reported cases of obesity to fall down by more than 55% in the region of Sacramento for people ranging from the age of 16-25 in both school or work locations.

Overview of Web Page:

The most important thing when using my web page is the easy functionality, quick responses to all problems, eye-catching content, and classy, but chic look . First, as you access the web page, you are greeted by a colorful and amazing picture of children holding fresh produce in their hands. As an eye-catching effect, the home page has fruits falling down in slow motion from the top of the screen. The home page will include an image slideshow with different events that will take place in the near future. These could include local farmer’s markets, a charity organized for those in need, and other activities. The symbol for the left tab will be an apple, and once you click there, you will find options like: help those in need, facts about food, check your food, online nutrition classes, healthy and affordable recipes, and find a local farmers market near you by inputting your zip code. There will also contain a tab in the left lower corner with information like: join us, how to contribute, our story, donate and need help. There will also be a charity option available to donate food or money for families who are struggling physically and mentally with weight-related illnesses and malnutrition due to unhealthy foods. The web page will also have a challenge section, thus containing information of the challenge that will take place each month. The winner of the challenge will be displayed on the web page for 5 days as a way to appreciate their hard work and show encouragement for others to be great as well. A cool feature that my web page will have is a countdown of the decreasing amount of reported cases of obesity in the Sacramento region.

References:

(1) https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentr al.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6546-2