Fresh Food for Health: The Impact of Onsite Produce Events at Federally Qualified Health Centers

This study assessed whether frequent attendance of onsite produce events at Federally Qualified Health Centers is associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption, reduced food insecurity, and enrollment in food assistance. A deeper understanding of these relationships may help program implementers and health practitioners improve healthy food access among low-income patients by screening for food insecurity and offering onsite produce distribution events at clinic sites. Using a cross-sectional observational design, study data originated from an intercept survey of 886 adults who attended free produce events at 14 clinic locations in Los Angeles County during 2021–2023. Multivariable models assessed associations between attendance frequency and the main outcomes: fruit and vegetable consumption, food insecurity, and enrollment in food assistance (i.e., SNAP, WIC). Compared with first-time attendees, frequent attendees had higher odds of meeting the MyPlate recommendations for fruit (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.37, p = 0.012) and vegetable (AOR = 1.47, p = 0.019) consumption. Frequent attendees, compared with first-time attendees, also had marginally lower odds of food insecurity (AOR = 0.73, p = 0.077), with no effect on food assistance enrollment. These findings suggest safety-net health centers can play meaningful, multi-faceted roles in increasing patient access to healthy food by screening for food insecurity and offering onsite free produce distributions at their clinic sites.