Nutrition: Good Choice for Food Service Providers
Good Choice is a program that helps food service providers identify and purchase healthier food and beverage products from their distributors. This allows consumers to have access to healthier options when eating away from home.
How the Program Works
Good Choice is a collaboration among government health departments, distributors and their customers. Every six months, participating health departments review product inventories of participating distributors to identify healthier foods and beverages. Their reviews identify products that meet science-based limits for calories, fat, sugar and sodium, and minimum requirements for fiber. Distributors highlight healthier foods and beverages for their customers, which include food providers in hospitals, restaurants, senior centers and child care centers.
Nutrition Criteria
The Good Choice nutrition criteria is based on the NYC Food Standards. The criteria include 15 food categories, such as pre-packaged snacks, sliced bread and salad dressing, and help identify which items within these categories are healthier choices.
Partners
The following government agencies are working with local distributors to offer Good Choice in their region, supported by trainings from the NYC Health Department.
- New York State Department of Health
- Los Angeles Department of Public Health
- County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency
For more information about Good Choice, email goodchoice@health.nyc.gov.
Additional Resources
- Distributors: Learn how you can highlight healthier products for your customers
- Food Service Providers: Learn how to find products that meet evidence-based nutrition criteria from participating distributors
- Good Choice pilot success story: Partnering with Food Distributors to Reduce Sodium (PDF)
More Information
- Food Service Operators: Learn more about rules and regulations for food service operators
- Nutrition Services: Learn more about NYC Health Department programs that help individuals get healthy food at home, work and school
- NSSRI: Learn more about a partnership of organizations and health authorities seeking to reduce sugar and salt, convened by the NYC Health Department