Food Literacy, Menu Design, and Nutritional Quality in Institutional Food Environments

This research project examines food literacy, menu design, and nutritional quality within institutional food environments from a public health and food systems perspective. The purpose of the project is to synthesize existing scholarly literature and conceptual frameworks to better understand how organizational knowledge, menu architecture, and operational decision-making shape nutritional quality in large-scale food service settings. Focusing on institutional environments such as healthcare systems, educational organizations, workplaces, and senior living facilities, the project explores food literacy as a system-level variable that influences procurement practices, recipe development, menu planning, and food production processes. Rather than addressing individual dietary behavior or clinical outcomes, the analysis emphasizes structural and organizational factors that affect dietary exposure at scale. The expected outcome of this research is a clarified conceptual understanding of how food literacy and menu design function within institutional food systems and their relevance to public health nutrition. By framing nutritional quality as an outcome of organizational capacity and systems design, this project aims to contribute to ongoing discussions in public health, food systems research, and nutrition policy. The findings are intended to inform future empirical research and support integrative approaches to improving nutritional quality through institutional food environments.