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Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System: Study 2

Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System in a Network of Food Pantries: Study 2

Who can join

Ages 18 to 90 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* Food pantries enrolled in the study will be partner agencies of the Greater Boston Food Bank that are maximum client choice, are located within approximately 1 hour driving time of Boston (for logistical feasibility), and are not actively using traffic-light nutrition ranking.
* Food pantry clients that complete assessments must be 18 years or older and speak English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Food pantries that are not affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank and are not maximum client choice.
* Food pantry clients that do not speak English or Spanish.

About the study

This is a cluster randomized controlled trial of 30 food pantries affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank to test the use of behavioral economics (BE) tools to encourage food pantries to implement the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program, with the goal of fostering accurate use of SWAP traffic light labels on pantry shelves and increasing the healthfulness of foods chosen by pantry clients. Primary outcomes will be assessed at 6 and 12 months to compare the implementation and effectiveness of the SWAP program in the intervention vs. control pantries.

What is being tested

• Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation (behavioral)
• Basic SWAP implementation (behavioral)

Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Participants: 3,750 · Started: Oct 1, 2024

Contact the study team

• Anne N Thorndike, MD, MPH · Phone: 617-724-4608
• Douglas Levy, PhD · Phone: 617-643-3595

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06298253

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.