Promoting healthy and sustainable diets through food service interventions in university settings: a scoping review

Food service operations in universities and colleges may support healthy and sustainable diets among students and staff, thereby contributing to the transformation of the wider food system. Although numerous studies on relevant interventions have been conducted, no comprehensive and up-to-date review exists. We conducted a scoping review in line with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. We included any study examining interventions in university or college food service settings aimed at, or potentially suitable for: (1) supporting healthy and/or sustainable diets, (2) reducing food waste, or (3) otherwise improving the sustainability of food service operations. We comprehensively searched six academic databases and conducted forward and backward citation searches. We considered studies using any systematic empirical study design, and extracted and charted data on key study characteristics. We identified 206 studies reporting on 273 interventions. Most studies (69%) used quasi-experimental study designs and were conducted in North America (53%) or Europe (34%). The most common intervention approaches were labelling (34%), increasing the availability of healthy and/or sustainable foods (33%), and information and awareness-raising campaigns (22%). The most frequently assessed outcomes included implementation-related measures (e.g., costs, feasibility, acceptability), diet-related metrics (e.g., sales or consumption of specific foods), and sustainability indicators (e.g., carbon footprint). The majority of studies were short-term, with a median follow-up of 4 weeks. Multiple approaches for promoting health and sustainability in university and college food service settings exist, including improved offerings of healthy and sustainable foods, as well as labelling and educational interventions. Future studies should address existing evidence gaps and limitations by assessing both health and sustainability outcomes, and by using more robust study designs, and extending follow-up periods. Registered prospectively with the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/CM8VA .