In vending machines around Clark County and the nation, the Fit Pick symbol is popping up on healthy snacks next to the usual rows of sweet and salty treats.
Fit Pick stickers identify natural foods available in vending machines, as well as processed snacks that meet criteria based on recommendations of the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
It’s part of an effort to increase healthy living and shrink local obesity and diabetes rates. Last year in Clark County, 25 percent of adults were reportedly obese and 7 percent had diabetes.
And employers are starting to catch on.
At least 16 work sites in Clark County have brought the Fit Pick program to their vending machines. They include Vancouver’s Southwest Washington Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Micropump, Camas’ Westlie Ford, Longview’s Three Rivers Mall and a host of public workplaces in Clark County.
The program was launched in Clark County in April. Locally it is run by Vancouver-based Community Choices 2010 and Steps to a Healthier Clark County. Nationally, it’s under the umbrella of the National Automated Merchandising Association.
Southwest Washington Medical Center has vending machines with Fit Pick products across its campus. Healthy options are especially important for employees with long workdays, said Ken Cole, manager of public affairs and communications.
“(Health care professionals) are just as in need of this as anyone else,” Cole said. “A 12-hour shift is common for nurses. It’s difficult to stay fit and make healthy choices. You don’t have a lot of breaks in your day.”
Some Fit Pick items have been in machines all along, such as nuts, rice cakes and granola bars. But nutrition information was usually hidden behind the glass.
“(People are) craving this information and these products,” said Cindie Meyer, a dietician and Fit Pick consultant. “We’re hoping a whole new clientele will come to vending machines now.”
Meyer helped establish Fit Pick, funded by Steps to a Healthier Clark County, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the W.J. Clinton Foundation.
The program’s website got 27,000 hits in its first two months and the program continues to spread across the country and internationally.
Healthy snacks took the spotlight in recent years, when schools began providing healthier options in vending machines, said Jim Brinton, chairman of NAMA and president of Seattle-based Evergreen Vending, which has a branch in Vancouver.
Now employer demand also is pushing the change, as human resources staff and employee committees look for ways to promote health in the workplace.
Brinton said about 40 percent of his 1,500 clients carry Fit Pick items. Among Evergreen’s 400 clients in Southwest Washington, participation is closer to 50 percent, he said – and that level of involvement shows the snack industry is changing.
When plans for Fit Pick surfaced in 2005, there were few healthy snacks that would keep in vending machines without refrigeration, Meyer said.
“There are more products every month that meet these requirements,” Brinton said. “A lot of companies have reformulated their products or come up with new products to meet the criteria.”
For now, vending machines with Fit Pick inventory between 25 percent and 30 percent seem to satisfy consumer demand, Brinton said. But he predicts that demand will rise in the next few years.
“We didn’t want to go from one extreme to another,” Brinton said. “There are healthy items and pleasure items. … It’s all about choices, education and options.”
Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com.
