The Cost of a Nutritious Diet in Cafeterias: Evidence From US Military Dining Facilities

Linlin Fan, Yiwen Zhao, Andrea Carlson, Parke Wilde, Joanna Reagan, Julianna Jayne, Starr Seip, Denise Laursen and Matthew P. Rabbitt

Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 2026, vol. 48, issue 4, 1214-1226

Abstract: Providing nutritious meals in institutional settings with financial constraints, such as military dining facilities, is challenging. The US Department of War (DoW) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaborated to modernize the Basic Daily Food Allowance (BDFA) using an optimization model that incorporates service members' consumption patterns and nutritional standards. The model estimated optimal diets for four demographic groups, producing costs similar to the 2019 BDFA but with greater food variety. This first application of the USDA Food Plan to military purchase data demonstrates a flexible approach for improving cost estimates in military and other institutional food programs.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.70088

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:48:y:2026:i:4:p:1214-1226

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().