A Scoping Review of Implementation Science Frameworks in Food Policy: Implications for Food Policy and Public Food Procurement Programmes

Public food procurement policies (PFPP), including school meal programmes, are increasingly recognised as key policy levers for food system transformation, with the potential to deliver social, health, and environmental benefits. However, implementation is often uneven due to institutional constraints and contextual variation. Implementation Science (IS) seeks to address the “know–do gap” by providing structured frameworks for understanding how evidence-informed interventions are adopted, implemented, and sustained in real-world settings. While IS is well established in public health, its application to food systems and food policy remains underexplored, with existing studies largely concentrated in institutional feeding and school food contexts. This scoping review aims to map and characterise the application of Implementation Science frameworks in food systems and food policy, including public food procurement and institutional feeding programmes. It seeks to examine the extent, nature, and purpose of IS use in food policy implementation, explore the utility and transferability of IS approaches for food systems, and identify common implementation barriers, enabling conditions, and strategies to strengthen the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of food policy interventions. Eligible evidence sources will include peer-reviewed studies of any design that explicitly apply an Implementation Science framework within food systems or food policy. Studies conceptualising policy as either something to adopt (a proposal to be disseminated) or something to implement (an enacted policy) will be included, while studies treating policy solely as context or strategy, or lacking an identifiable IS framework, will be excluded. The review will systematically identify and synthesise relevant studies through searches conducted in major bibliographic databases. Data will be charted using an a priori framework and synthesised using descriptive and thematic approaches to examine policy conceptualisation, implementation determinants, institutional contexts, and reported outcomes. This registration documents a scoping review protocol; final searches and screening will be completed prior to data extraction and synthesis.