Aims: 

FoodFox is an innovative food and nutrition tracking and reporting system that translates food and beverage sales data into food and nutrient information to support decision makers in improving nutrition and to build an evidence base for improving food and nutrition policy and practice.

Objectives:
  • Develop web system and end-user reports aligned with best evidence and informed by community consultation 
  • Provide information to decision makers on community food and nutrition markers and trends over time
Summary:  

FoodFox stems from the Remote Indigenous Stores and Takeaways Tool (RIST tool), a purpose-built tool to semi-automate the translation of store sales data to estimates of food and nutrient intake. Key decision makers have indicated that this information could be vital to informing their practice or in giving the evidence needed to advocate for improvement to the food supply. FoodFox builds from the RIST tool to make this information accessible in an innovative interactive web portal.

Food and beverage sales data are uploaded using a semi-automated process aided by cross-referencing to a comprehensive pre-existing database of food products and nutrient information. After data are provided, FoodFox users can log into the online reporting portal to view and download visually appealing reports, developed through community consultation, showing trends over time for a range of dietary indicators for their store/s. Dietary indicators are based on food groupings used in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, and benchmarked against the recommendations made in Australian Dietary Guidelines, the average of other participating stores and user-set store targets.

Implications for policy and practice: 

FoodFox reports are designed to be used by various decision makers such as store committee members, community leaders, store owners, store managers, store association staff, public health nutritionists and others to support decision making to improve food supply and access. Aggregate data may also be valuable for tracking food and nutrition trends over time and evaluating the effects of changes to food policy and food supply.

Future objectives of FoodFox include testing the effectiveness of reports to support decision makers in improving food policy improve the food supply/access and community nutrition and to build evidence base of strategies to improve food and nutrition policy and practice. Given the high cost and participant burden of collecting self-reported nutrition data, the ability to collect food and nutrient markers at the population level objectively, and with minimal burden, presents an invaluable opportunity to build an evidence base that can inform and evaluate food policy and practice.

Chief investigator:
Project manager:
Contact information:
Project dates:

January 2015 - current

Funders:
  • Australian Government Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
Collaborators:

 

  • Associate Professor Julie Brimblecombe speaking about FoodFox at Charles Darwin University Innov8

  1. Study to fight food insecurity in Indigenous communities

    Study to fight food insecurity in Indigenous communities

    Date

    The project was designed with the Apunipima Cape York Health Council and the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress. Menzies is collaborating on the project.