UMass Extension Programs

Nutrition Education

Take me to the Nutrition Program website.

Jean Anliker , Program Director

The mission of the Nutrition Education Program (NEP) is to provide individuals, families and communities with the knowledge and skills that empower them to make informed choices about healthy diets, to reduce risks of foodborne illness and chronic disease, and to efficiently manage food resources that support their physiological health and economic and social well-being.

The issues addressed by NEP activities include: promotion of Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid; prevention of chronic disease; reduction of obesity; prevention of foodborne illness; increasing awareness of food safety concerns; improvement of nutritional status of limited-resource children and adults; and increasing collaboration among nutrition education programs.

The public served through NEP programming includes limited-resource families with children; pregnant and/or parenting teens; youth and elderly. In addition it also serves professionals in community agencies and food handlers in settings such as food pantries, homeless shelters, senior meal sites, community-based group homes, and school food service units.

The purposes of the four research-based programs that make up NEP are: nutrition education for limited-resource families with young children (the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, EFNEP); nutrition education for adult and youth food stamp participants and those eligible for food stamps (the Family Nutrition Program, FNP); nutrition education and training for educators, caregivers and agency staff serving chldren, youth and elderly (the Nutrition and Health Program); and food safety education and training for consumers and food workers in child and elder care, school food service, and community agencies (the Food Safety Program).

University Partnerships:

School of Public Health and Health Sciences

UMass Extension 4-H Youth and Family Development Program