In August of 2022, the Lake County General Health District started working with the St. Gabriel Food Pantry to implement Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP). The Lake County General Health District and the St. Gabriel Food Pantry started their partnership by completing the Healthy Food Pantry Assessment Tool (HFPAT). The HFPAT is used to determine how “healthy” the food pantry currently is and ways in which the food pantry can change to make their guests healthier. There are no right or wrong answers to the assessment questions; overall health is subjective to the specific food pantry, its’ guests, the food that is donated or purchased, and how it runs.

What is SWAP?

Supporting Wellness at Pantries color system: Green means choose often because it is low in sautrated fat, sodium, and added sugars and it supports health. Yellow means choose sometimes because it has medium levels of saturated fat, sodium or added sugars and can contribute to good health. Red means choose rarely because it has high levels of saturated fat, sodium or added sugars. Think of these as treats. They provide limited health benefits.

Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) is a Stoplight Nutrition Ranking System designed to promote healthy food choices at food banks and pantries.

What is the goal of SWAP?

  • To create an easy to use, easy to understand system to categorize food offered in food pantries, and to encourage clients to choose healthy items.
  • To increase the supply and demand for healthy food in food banks and pantries.

Why is this important?

More than half of the families who visit food pantries have a household member with high blood pressure and one-third have a member with type II diabetes, both of which, can be prevented, managed, and reversed through the foods we eat. This system will help food pantry guests make healthy choices and influence healthier donations from food donors.

How does SWAP work?

With the help of the SWAP Guide for Ranking Food, foods are ranked using the following items from the nutrition label:

  • Saturated fat
  • Sodium
  • Added Sugars

These nutrients are the most dangerous ones for chronic diseases and are listed at “nutrients to limit” in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines.

The Lake County General Health District and the St. Gabriel Food Pantry were able to:

  • Educate the food pantry volunteers about the SWAP changes
  • Create shelf tags that were placed near each food item at the pantry
Greed - Choose often: low sodium like canned carrots.
Yellow - choose sometimes like 100% juice
Red - Choose rarely like baked goods
  • Purchase SWAP posters that described the labeling system to the food pantry guests
  • Add a page about SWAP to the informational packets that food pantry guests receive when they shop
  • Add a slide about SWAP to the PowerPoint that continually plays on the television

More information about the St. Gabriel Food Pantry:

The St. Gabriel Food Pantry serves the following zip codes: 44060, 44077, & 44045 and is open Monday thru Friday 10am to 1pm for in-person guest shopping.

Guests must have valid identification, proof of address, and can visit once per calendar month. The phone number for the St. Gabriel Food Pantry is 440-721-0306 and it is located at:

9921 Johnnycake Ridge Road
Concord Township, OH 44060

Implementing SWAP at your food pantry

Please contact Emily Kolacz, Health Educator, at 440-350-2451.