Dive Brief:

• The White House announced Tuesday 141 new commitments for its Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities.
• Instacart has now pledged to work with Columbia, South Carolina, to address the city’s food deserts and also work with Washington, D.C.’s, health department to pilot food-as-medicine offerings. 
• Ahold Delhaize USA is investing almost $1 million to reach more than 200,000 children with nutrition messaging in 2024. 

Dive Insight:

The new pledges from Instacart and Ahold Delhaize build on the grocery industry’s efforts to address hunger and food access as well as further the White House’s historic public-private partnership effort.

The White House held its historic Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September 2022. At the time of the conference, the Biden administration announced more than $8 billion in private- and public-sector commitments, including ones from Instacart, Kroger, Hy-Vee and Meijer.

The latest round of pledges includes additional promises from Instacart. For the Columbia community, Instacart has committed to boosting “fresh and healthy” grocery access through a pilot, while in Washington, D.C., the company is providing 500 residents $75 per month in Instacart Fresh Funds for six months to purchase diabetes-friendly foods through a virtual storefront for home delivery or pickup. 

In conjunction with Boston Children’s Hospital, Instacart will also partner with at least four other major health care providers across the U.S. to create virtual food pharmacies and other options with its Instacart Health products.

Instacart also said it will boost nutritious food access for seniors by accepting MedicareAdvantage health benefits online. The grocery technology company also will partner with No Kid Hungry and Mercy Housing to expand access to nutritious food and health information for people living in affordable housing communities in food-insecure areas and then study the outcomes. 

With its $1 million pledge, Ahold Delhaize said that its U.S. banners including Food Lion, Giant, The Giant Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop will use new and existing programs to “share the benefits of good nutrition with socioeconomically diverse children” across its operations in 18 states and Washington, D.C. 

The Dutch grocery giant is also seeking to address “the root cause of hunger” through employment opportunities by developing relationships with nonprofits, regional food banks and food pantries, the White House noted. 

Several other companies in the grocery sector made new commitments as part of the Tuesday announcement. Whole Foods said it will expand its Nourishing Our Neighborhood program to increase community-based food rescue efforts, while Gopuff said it will invest $1 million to build awareness of SNAP on its platform among communities in need and will donate 3 million pounds of food to local food banks and charities across the U.S. by 2028. 

The new commitments build on the Biden administration’s goals of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases by 2030.