Evaluation of Community Food Markets in Glasgow, Scotland.

Socioeconomic deprivation and individual and place deprivation are major drivers of poor diet and ill health in urban households across the UK. Food choices are shaped by the local food environment, culture, individual preferences, and economic and physical accessibility. Solutions to improve access and diet need multi-component approaches. Local food system transformation that facilitates access to sustainable diets that are affordable, nutritious, culturally acceptable, and derived through a people-centred approach is needed to address diet inequalities and promote health. This entails a systems approach with community and local stakeholders participating in the design and delivery of solutions to increase acceptance, participation, engagement and long-term sustainability.

Through a broad partnership in Glasgow supported by Glasgow University and local food organisations, two low-income areas of Glasgow have been selected to establish a weekly community-led food market stalls; Govan and Cranhill. The intention is that the implementation of these food market stalls will improve community members' access to nutritious food. The market stalls will be launched one at a time, developed in consultation with their local communities to ensure that they are appropriate to local needs and circumstances. The market stalls will operate on Saturdays and will run over 6 months each, focusing on providing affordable nutrient-rich foods and increasing exposure and familiarisation to raw ingredients. At one of the markets we will also incorporate food-related art performances and food information activities (e.g. cooking demonstrations) to support participant engagement and food literacy skills.

This study is an impact-, process- and economic- evaluation of the two community-led food market stalls, to explore if they are a viable intervention to improve access to affordable and nutritious food in these communities and enable households to meet dietary targets for fruit, vegetables, oily fish and fibre. We will measure the impact of these food markets to generate evidence to inform expansion of this concept to other localities in Glasgow and beyond. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we will compare an intervention group with a comparator group (areas of Glasgow with no market), pre-and post- market intervention. We will measure participant food purchases, eating behaviours, food literacy and markers of general health and wellbeing at time points (pre- and post- market intervention). We will do this using questionnaires, 24h diet recall and a 7-day food purchasing diary. In addition we will record market attendance and engagement.

• Change from Baseline in the per-person purchase (portions/week) of fruits, vegetables, oily fish and fibre-rich products at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by a food purchasing frequency questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in the per-person dietary intake (portions/day) of fruits, vegetables, oily fish and fibre (g/day) at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by a food intake frequency questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in the per-person dietary intake (portions/day) of fruits, vegetables, oily fish and fibre (g/day) at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by an interviewer led 24h diet recall. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant food shopping frequency habits and food sourcing locations at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by a food shopping frequency questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant expenses (£/week) on food shopping at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by a 7 day food purchasing diary. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant expenses (£/week) on food shopping at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by a participant estimate of weekly expenditure. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant food literacy at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by the "sustainable food literacy" questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant food security status at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by the FAO Food Insecurity Experience Scale. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant quality of life at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant quality of life at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by the ICE-CAP A questionnaire. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant health at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by BMI (kg/m^2). [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]
• Change from Baseline in participant health at 6 Months after market stall intervention, as assessed by the Bristol Stool Chart. [Time frame: From enrolment until the end of the 6 month market intervention.]