Monthly Archives: November 2013

Wrapping Up Our Research: Our Final Findings and Recommendation for Future LFS 350 Students

The final week of the term has been extremely busy with final lab exams and group projects for our team.

Plenary Presentation

We finished our plenary presentation last Wednesday and we were very pleased with how smoothly it went. Both Judy and Alex presented our research project and did a great job. We were delighted to be able to listen to all the projects that were offered in LFS 350. They all seemed interesting and being able to get a glimpse of each project was a great way to broaden our scope of the class. After our presentation, some interesting questions were posed. One in particular stayed with us: what foods are you planning on adding into the UBC vending machines? This question was one of the reasons we chose to do this research project, but unfortunately, we had no time to implement any new healthier snacks into the vending machines. Hopefully this will be a job for next year’s LFS 350 class. We will be looking throughout campus next year to see any changes that are made. Overall, we were happy with our presentation and hopefully our LFS 350 class learned a little more about the healthier choices provided in UBC vending machines.

Hopefully Healthy Choices snacks will increase next year

Progress and Challenges on the Final Research Paper

Our group has made slow but ongoing progress on our research paper. Each group member has been officially assigned to work on a specific section of the paper. We are all working on it now, trying to finish each section by our presentation date on Wednesday, November 27. We feel somewhat prepared, however much still needs to be covered. We are planning on meeting up right before the beginning of our class to rehearse. We hope to see both Victoria and Liska at our presentation because the research was conducted primarily for them and we would really like to see what they can take from our research findings.

Freezing Temperatures on UBC Campus

Final Findings

Overall, comparing our audit to that of the previous LFS group’s, it shows that the “Healthier Choices” policy is being adhered to less for the Gage Residence snack vending machine, which now contains a higher percent of unhealthy options than it did previously. The SUB snack vending machines now includes more “Choose Most” options, but fewer “Choose Sometimes” and “Choose Least” items, and more “Not Recommended” items than it did before it was following the GSVM. This means, that since implementing the GSVM, and thus using Healthier Choices as a loose guideline for stocking the snack vending machines, the selection of “Not Recommended” options has increased. According to our survey and the top 3 preferred beverages, individuals are interested in seeing healthier options in campus vending machines, which is in line with policy recommendations that there should be at least 50% of offerings in the “Choose Most” category. The analysis of our data showed a general trend that the Gage Snack Vending Model was unsuccessful.

Reflection

This brings us back to the concept of food insecurity. The vending machines do not promote food security because of inadequate nutritional information as well as high prices for healthier food. Our group believes that a big reason why the model is unsuccessful is because there is improper and insufficient labelling on the vending machine to give users enough information regarding the food’s nutritional content. Most users of vending machines do not have time to read this information, therefore we think that an issue with this form of food insecurity is the lack of education. The Healthier Choices policy was not put into effect until 2006. Since food-related education is usually taught in elementary school, we would expect to not see this change in attitude at UBC towards food security until they start university. During our audit, we also noticed that healthier options cost more on average than unhealthy choices ($3.75 for a granola bar vs. $1.75 for a chocolate bar). Since most students live on minimal budgets, access to healthier foods becomes difficult. The group believes that to improve food security on campus, better labelling, identification, and lower prices of healthier foods, and a greater proportion of healthier food options are required.

UBC Campus Late at Night

Recommendation

Wakefield and Richer envision seeing more than 50% of snacks that are part of the Healthier Choice Policy in UBC vending machines in the future. However, around half of the surveyed participants are unaware of the “Healthier Choices policy”. To promote healthy local products to consumers, we suggest that UBCFS use brightly coloured signs such as “Gluten-free” and “New” to promote the healthy products. Nutrition facts of the healthy snacks can be placed on or near the vending machines where consumers will have an increased awareness of the nutritious snack items offered.

Another recommendation would be to lower the cost of healthy snack items. Based on the survey results, 32% of participants indicated cost as a motivational factor to purchase snacks from vending machines. UBC consumers are more likely to purchase chocolate bars for $1.75 instead of healthy snacks for $3.75. We also would like to suggest that Healthier Choices be relocated up to eye-level to promote the consumption.

Our recommendation for future generations of LFS 350 CBEL project is to be able to suggest taste testing to our vendors based on our survey findings. Suggestions for beverages include fruit juice, unsweetened cold tea, and milk; as for snack suggestions, healthy fruit snacks, energy/protein bars, granola/cereal bars seem to be welcomed. Therefore, the proportion of these already existing food products supplied by Coca-Cola and Vendmaster should be increased as they provide relatively more nutrition.

 

Getting Ready for our Final Presentation

Group Message

We hope that you have enjoyed our journey as much as we have with finding whether or not the Gage Snack Vending Model has improved since April of 2012. We would like to thank everyone involved in the research project, including all the members of the group, our community partner Victoria, project manager Liska, our TA Lorne, the survey participants, and of course everyone involved in LFS 350. Although our group has not seen an improvement in the Gage Snack Vending Model, we are optimistic that next years LFS 350 group will find a way to change this conclusion.

This will be our last post for this course. We wish you luck on all your exams, and enjoy the winter break with family and friends.

Thank you,
Group 26

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Auditing the UBC Vending Machines on a Busy Afternoon

Auditing the Gage and the SUB Vending Machines

Using the checklist that was written up the week before, Carmen, Judy, Tyra, Rosemary, and Alex chose one location to audit the vending machines either beside Pie R Squared in the SUB or in the Gage residence last week. We noted any issues that were noticeable with the vending machines as well as positive aspects of the vending machines and recommendations for improvement.

Baked Doritos on Sale at the SUB

Labeling is not clear on some snacks at the SUB

Quaker Bars in different flavors found in the same row

 

Below are the results of our audit of the SUB Snack vending machines:

SUB SNACK VENDING MACHINES

Was there any dust inside/outside the vending machines?

  • There was a bit of dust on the inside of the vending machine, but not enough to obscure the viewing of the snack items

  • There was a lot of marks on the viewing screen such as fingerprints that should be wiped off

Healthy Choices label correctly placed?

  • There were multiple healthy snacks that were not correctly labeled. Some examples include:

    • The Edge Food Energy bars

    • Apple Chips

  • Some Healthy Choices labels were not placed in the correct location. Some examples include

    • Gummy worms

    • Mike and Ike’s candy

Other issues we found

  • Price labelling was not clear for all snack items, some were partially obscured while others didn’t even have a price tag.

  • Different flavours of the same granola bar were mixed together. For example, there was a mix of strawberry and blueberry flavored bars in the same column of the vending machine. This can affect vending machine sales

Positive aspects of the snack vending machines

  • Lighting was pretty good

  • Large screen to make the snack more visible

  • Vending machines can take cash/credit/debit and UBC card

  • Baked chips, a healthy choices item were placed at eye level to attract consumers

  • Refilling of snacks was placed with the newest options in the back

Recommendations

  • Have signs like “local”, “new”, “gluten free” to promote healthy items

  • Include veggie straws and tuna salad kit

    • We found that other vending machines in the SUB sold veggie straws and a tuna salad kit, options that were not seen in the SUB vending machines we audited

  • Lower the price of the healthy snack items if possible

    • The healthy options are on average $3.75 compared to the chocolate bars that cost $1.75.

  • Remove repeated snack options seen in two relatively close vending machines. Substitute with healthier new snacks.

Gummy Worms Labelled with a Health Check

 

SUB BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE

Was there any dust inside/outside the vending machines?

There was a bit of dust on the inside of the vending machine, but not enough to obscure the viewing of the snack items

However, there was a lot of marks on the viewing screen such as fingerprints that should be wiped off

Healthy Choices label correctly placed?

No signs of a Healthier Choices policy being used

Other issues we found

  • Lighting was not bright. It was a little dim and the very bottom row of beverages were hard to see

  • Pricing was placed at a slanted angle and difficult to notice at first

    • Might be because of the design of the vending machine

Positive aspects of the beverage vending machines

Lighting was pretty good

Large screen to make the snack more visible

Vending machines can take cash/credit/debit and UBC card

Refilling of beverages was placed with the newest options in the back

Recommendations

  • Find a way to make the last row of the vending machine more visible to the public

  • Add a variety of beverages, instead of the same ones found throughout campus vending machines.

    • Examples include unsweetened tea

Beverage Vending Machine Found at the SUB

GAGE SNACK VENDING MACHINE

Was there any dust inside/outside the vending machines?

There was no dust inside/outside of the vending machine

Healthy Choices label correctly placed?

Several items in the vending machines were not correctly labelled

  • Welch’s fruit snacks

  • Granola Bars

  • Maintain/Fortify – Ancient Grain nutrition bars (local)

Other issues we found

None

Positive aspects of the snack vending machines

  • Vending machines can take cash/credit/debit and UBC card

  • The vending machines were brand new

    • All lights and buttons were in proper order

Recommendations

  • Location of the vending machines are obscure, hidden in a corner. Beside the machines is a Gage Residence mini-mart. To promote sales, it is r

  • ecommended to move it to an open location.

  • Proper labelling is required so as to not confuse customers and promote the consumption of unhealthy foods.

  • Relocating healthier choices up to eye-level.

Health Check Label at the SUB

GAGE BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE

Was there any dust inside/outside the vending machines?

There was no dust found inside/outside the vending machines

  • Beverages could be clearly seen inside

Healthy Choices label correctly placed?

No signs of a Healthier Choices policy being used

Other issues we found

  • All the bottled water were located at the bottom of the vending machine, not at eye level

  • Not a large variety of drinks in the vending machines

    • Only pop and water were found

Positive aspects of the beverage vending machines

  • Vending machines can take cash/credit/debit and UBC card

  • Lighting was very bright

Recommendations

  • A larger variety of drinks would be better to promote lower-calorie alternatives.

  • Moving healthier drinks up to eye-level.

 Outcome of meeting with Victoria and Liska

Tyra, Katherine, and Aveir met with Victoria and Liska on Thursday, November 7th to update them on our research progress while clarifying any questions we had.

One topic that came up was refrigerated snacks: vending machines with refrigerated units use up a lot of energy, going against the climate action plan. Furthermore, refrigerated vending machines can be noisy, therefore cannot be placed in specific locations on campus (e.g. library). Nevertheless, our group will consider other pros and cons of vending machines with refrigerated units.

As we focus on beverages, Victoria would like to see at least 50% of every vending machine be comprised of healthy beverages. Our group will have to audit the beverages again to check how many of each type of beverage are offered. Before we perform the audit, we will be establishing guidelines as to what is considered a healthy beverage.

We are relieved that Victoria did not ask us to analyze the vending machine sales. Most of us were frustrated last week with the sales analysis provided to us because we could not determine how well the Healthy Choices snacks were selling. This is because the vending machine sales are determine by machine, not by individual items. Victoria believes that the healthy vending snack options are not profitable because UBC students would go to the residence dining hall or cafeteria to purchase healthy food.

Finally, Victoria will email us the University Nutritionist, Jackie’s contact information. Jackie is responsible for managing all the campus menus and new food ideas. On a side note, Victoria and Liska signed the consent forms, giving us permission to use their full names in the final research paper.

Autumn Days on a Bus

Planery Presentation

We are getting ready for our planery presentation. Judy and Alex have decided to present our research progress while the rest of us focus on the final paper. With less than two weeks of classes, we are quickly gathering the last bit of information we need to complete our project. We are very excited to present our findings in front our breakout room classmates and of course our community partner Victoria, and our project manager Liska. We will shortly update you on our plans for the last week of class.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Group 26

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One Last Leap: Auditing UBC Vending Machines at the SUB and UBC Residences

Our CBEL research process, challenges, and creative solutions

We have been working on analyzing our surveys this week, since our LFS 350 class last Wednesday. To make it easier to understand, we categorized the purpose of our survey questions into three themes: labelling issues, educational issues, and motivational factors. Splitting our survey questions into different categories helped us clearly understand the purpose of each question and how it is relevant to our research.

Irving K Barber As Judy Walks to Class

Looking at our survey, we noticed we had quite a variety of responses to one of our questions regarding which snacks to add to campus vending machines. Because of this variety, it was a challenge coming up with one general snack option to recommend to Victoria. In other words, while writing the survey, we were hoping to see a majority of similar responses for this question, but we ended up getting mixed results instead. Some students, for example, would like to see more candy and energy drinks while other students prefer seeing nuts and mints in vending machines. In addition, we had to disregard some results, because responses were unreasonable: some students wanted to see sushi and baked goods, both perishable foods that cannot be placed in vending machines. We came up with the solution to find responses that were similar and categorize these responses into broader terms. For example, apple chips, fruity granola bars, and raisins can be categorized as “healthy fruit snacks”.

We also encountered a few challenges this week that came up when we received a response to an email we had sent to our community partner, Victoria. In particular, these challenges we faced had to do with our audit of the GSVM: vending machine sales are not broken down by items, but by machines, so it is impossible to tell how well the healthier options are selling individually. Also, there has been an increase in campus vending machine sales due to the machines now accepting UBC cards for payment, so we need to be careful not to attribute this sales increase to the “healthier choices”. Since the sales data of those machines reflect only the percent of cash, cashless, or ubc card sales, we cannot tell if labelling has an impact on sales. Our current audit of the vending machines at Gage Residence and at the Student Union Building will focus on recording if proper labelling is being adhered to. In the audit we will also take note of dust-accumulation, which will give us an idea of turnover rates of food and beverage products. The beverage vending machines pose an issue because we are not able to see inside them. We can therefore only audit them by outer-appearance (lights, properly maintained, clean).

Bright Leaves Indicate that the End of the Term is Near…

What’s To Come

We are fortunate that our research community is so close at hand: once we are on campus, we are immersed in our community. This Wednesday, several group members are auditing the campus vending machines both on the upper floor of the Student Union Building, and in Gage residence (These are machines that follow the GSVM). We are undertaking this review in order to get a clear idea on how well the GSVM is  performing. To standardize our approach, since we are not able to go all together, we created a checklist for everyone to follow. Our checklist includes:

  1. Observing for dust inside/outside of the vending machines
  2. Checking to see if the “Healthy  Choices” signage is correctly displayed for each product
  3. Auditing the planogram (arrangement of snacks within the machine) to ensure that location of healthier options is appropriate to promote them

The deadlines for the CBEL final research paper, plenary presentation, and CBEL project homeroom final presentation are fast approaching. To stay on top of these deadlines, each group member has been assigned specific tasks for each of the aforementioned components. The task for each member is outlined in the following.

Plenary presentation

  • Introduction to the project and community: Judy
  • Research Question and Methods: Judy
  • Results and Interpretation of the results based on the course concepts and reflections: Alex
  • Question and Answer: Alex
  • Editing, and addition of ideas to each section: All group members!

Alex and Judy will be doing the plenary presentation in front of the LFS 350 class. Since it is a brief presentation we feel it will be easier to have all group members contribute to what will be said during the presentation, but have fewer people actually go up to present them. This will be balanced out with all of the group members doing the final presentation, while Judy and Alex take on smaller roles for that.

UBC Campus Early Wednesday Morning where Surveys were analyzed

CBEL project homeroom final presentation

  • Introduction and Research Questions: Rosemary
  • Methods: Aveir and Katherine
  • Results: Judy
  • Discussion: Tyra and Carmen
  • Reflection: All group members
  • Recommendation: Alex
  • Editing, and addition of ideas to each section: All group members!

Each group member will be responsible for presenting their section to our homeroom.

CBEL final research paper (Still to be decided…)

  • Executive Summary: All group members!
  • Introduction: Rosemary
  • Research Methods: Alex
  • Findings: Judy
  • Recommendation and Conclusions: Tyra
  • References and appendices: All group members!
  • Editing, and addition of ideas to each section: All group members!

We plan to write our first draft of the final research paper once we have all our data from the audit, and survey, analyzed.

Amidst our busy schedules, we will take time this week to reflect on Remembrance Day, and the individuals who fought to serve our country.

Group 26

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