{
  "abstract": "Objectives: Community food organisations are local food infrastructures that respond to household food insecurity (though they may be nationally managed). They are diverse in their approaches and include, among others, emergency food distribution, food pantries, community kitchens and food banks. Many provide additional support, including welfare advice, employment support, food vouchers and signposting to helpful resources. We investigated what approaches used by community food (aid) organisations are most likely to help prevent the need for emergency food for families in two multicultural areas in the North and South of England.\n\nDesign: A longitudinal mixed-method research programme, including systems mapping, survey and workshops, semi-structured qualitative interviews and a multiple-method longitudinal qualitative study (ethnography, go-along interviews and visual study).\n\nSetting: Community settings, including ethnographies in nine community food organisations across two local government areas. Data collection took place from July 2023 to July 2025.\n\nParticipants: 89 community food organisations and ~160 representatives took part across work packages, including workshops (n=82 local/national representatives), survey (n=89 organisations), ethnography (n=9 organisations); interviews (n=36 funders, coordinators, managers and volunteers); longitudinal interviews (n=40 families with lived experience of food insecurity) and visual study (n=36 families).\n\nResults: Community food organisations are part of a complex, fragile food system, with high dependency on surplus food, volunteers and external funding. Although many aim to address underlying issues, food insecurity prevention is often not possible in practice, largely due to operational tensions (space, capacity and funding constraints) and wider financial and political constraints\n\nConclusions: No single model of delivery within community food organisations appears more effective at preventing the need for emergency food. Instead, sufficient space, time and resources to address underlying needs and staff approachability are most likely to make a difference. However, any influence organisations play to reduce food insecurity would be minimal without tackling poverty as an underlying cause.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK",
    "Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK",
    "Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK",
    "Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Centre of Global Change and Health, London, UK",
    "School for Business and Society, University of York, York, UK",
    "School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester - The Victoria University of Manchester Campus, Manchester, UK"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 11,
  "authors": [
    {
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        0,
        1
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      "name": "Maria Bryant",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7690-4098"
    },
    {
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        1
      ],
      "name": "Giorgia Previdoli"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Benchekroun"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Wendy Burton"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Maddy Power"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Philip Hadley"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Ariadne Kapetanaki"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Bob Doherty"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Claire Cameron"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kate Pickett",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8066-8507"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Laura Sheard"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8h5w01b89r6ws.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1136/bmjopen-2026-122055",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13711551/",
  "id": "8h5w01b89r6ws",
  "issns": [
    "2044-6055",
    "2044-6055"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-122055",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "1506"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "1724"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Public Health"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3600|Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223240814",
  "pdf_url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/16/10/e122055.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13711551",
  "pmid": "42914552",
  "published": "2026-10-22",
  "publisher": "BMJ",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8h5w01b89r6ws.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:44Z",
      "native_id": "10.1136/bmjopen-2026-122055",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-122055"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:22:18Z",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-122055"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "heading:Public Health",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Exploring the types of approaches used by community food organisations and their role in food insecurity prevention: a mixed-methods study",
  "title_text": "Exploring the types of approaches used by community food organisations and their role in food insecurity prevention: a mixed-methods study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:22:18Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8h5w01b89r6ws",
  "venue": "BMJ Open",
  "versions": []
}