Tarrant Area Food Bank cares about our community members. We hold ourselves accountable to serve the community with the following policies.
Since our start in 1982, Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) has supplied food to help families in need. We believe that access to healthy food is a basic human right and that all people deserve consistent, nutritious meals. It is our responsibility to ensure that the food we distribute is high quality, nutritious, culturally responsive, and safe. This policy guides TAFB’s food acquisition and distribution decisions, including donations, government commodities, and purchases, and encourages health as a focus while honoring the food preferences of the neighbors we serve across our 13-county service area.
This policy applies to all food and beverages sourced and distributed by TAFB, including industry donations, government commodities, and purchased items, across all TAFB programs and distribution channels. Partner agencies are encouraged to adopt these standards as guidance for promoting healthy, culturally responsive food choices.
Nutrition affects the onset, management, and outcomes of many health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.1 TAFB aligns with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans2 and the Healthy Eating Research (HER) Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System3 to promote improved health and reduce diet-related chronic disease.
Services and foods that are respectful of, and relevant to, the health beliefs, practices, culture, and linguistic needs of diverse communities. TAFB celebrates the diversity of our community and seeks to source and distribute culturally responsive foods and provide culturally responsive interventions.
Foods sourced and distributed in ways that reflect the preferences, nutrition needs, and food traditions of the communities TAFB serves. Informed by community input, this approach supports dignity, relevance, and nutrition while aligning food offerings with community needs across TAFB’s 13-county service area.
Food traditions, ingredients, and preparation methods preferred by communities based on culture, religion, region, and family heritage. TAFB recognizes these preferences as central to dignity, equity, and nutrition.
A color-coded framework4 that categorizes foods into Green (choose often), Yellow (choose sometimes), and Red (choose rarely) based on saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars.
Healthy Eating Research nutrition standards3 designed for charitable food systems to guide procurement, inventory, and distribution toward healthier options.
TAFB is committed to sourcing foods that reflect the preferences, nutrition needs, and food traditions of the communities we serve across our 13-county service area. To better understand these needs, TAFB conducted a community needs assessment to learn more about dietary preferences, food traditions, and nutrition priorities. This feedback informed the development of TAFB’s Community-Inspired Foods Guide, which serves as a practical resource to support procurement, program design, and partner sourcing of community-inspired foods through TAFB and other available food sources.
In accordance with this Nutrition Policy, TAFB will only procure healthy foods based on HER guidelines. Purchased items should meet the green and yellow requirements of SWAP. Food donations will be accepted and prioritized consistent with this policy; TAFB will actively engage donors to align contributions with HER and SWAP standards that prioritize green and yellow foods.
TAFB does not accept or distribute the following products:
When items listed above are offered or received, TAFB will:
Food sources not covered by this policy include products received through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).
TAFB convenes a Food & Nutrition Council (FNC) to support continuous quality improvement of the TAFB Nutrition Policy, advance nutritional and culturally responsive standards for food acquisition while preserving total partner relationships (product donations, volunteers, and financial support) and strengthen relationships with food industry partners.
The FNC is led by the Vice President, Development & Supply Chain and supported by the Director, Community Health. The Director, Community Health, is a standing member and attends every FNC meeting.
The FNC meets at least biannually. At each meeting, the agenda will include a nutrition-related topic.
Membership may include representatives from TAFB (Supply Chain, Programs/Community Health, Agency Relations, Development, Volunteer Engagement, Communications), agency partners, nutrition experts, healthcare partners, and external food industry stakeholders (e.g., retail and wholesale grocers; manufacturers; storage, logistics, and transportation partners; brokers and distributors; culinary schools; food service and hospitality; trade associations; media; government partners; chefs; other food banks).
Highlight nutrition and food safety topics and ways to achieve our organizational nutrition goals; provide guidance and feedback on sourcing strategies aligned with HER and SWAP; share market insights on availability, cost, and quality (e.g., produce forecasts); and identify partnership opportunities.
Maintain and review this policy annually; ensure integration across programs and the organization; track adherence to HER and SWAP; maintain the Community-Informed Culturally Responsive Food Standards document; coordinate training and communications.
Chairs the Food & Nutrition Council; communicates standards to donors.
Ensure all foods meet safety standards and support proper redirection or disposal of non-compliant items; operationalize procurement priorities; apply SWAP categorization to inventory; communicate standards to vendors.
TAFB will communicate this policy to staff, volunteers, and partners; embed standards into purchasing specifications and donor communications; and monitor inventory using SWAP categories.
This policy will be reviewed annually by the Director, Community Health, and undergo subsequent review for suggestions by the FAST (Feeding and Serving Together) team each year. Updates will be recorded in the Document Modification History.
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