Community Food Insecurity Interventions for Adults Living in the United Kingdom: A Scoping Review

Food insecurity is a growing concern worldwide, particularly in the United Kingdom. Despite this, community-based interventions to address food insecurity remain an under-researched area. Existing food insecurity reviews have focused on international evidence, limiting investigations to foodbank use and/or interventions targeted towards children. This scoping review aimed to understand the evidence on available community-based interventions for adults experiencing food insecurity in the United Kingdom and the suggested elements for a feasible, acceptable intervention. A comprehensive electronic search was completed up to January 2024. All study designs were considered. A descriptive analytical approach was used to summarise intervention data. Narrative synthesis explored the data further, using the Food Ladders model as a framework. This review identified a very limited scope and quantity of evidence on community food insecurity interventions for UK adults, with 21 included studies. Over half of interventions (52.4%, n = 11) relied on volunteers, and a high proportion used donated or surplus food. The nutritional quality of emergency food provision was poor, and it was unclear whether providers could adequately cater for special dietary requirements, cultural and/or religious needs. There were very few studies (19.0%, n = 4) assessing the feasibility or acceptability of interventions or their impact on food insecurity. Further research is required into the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of community food insecurity interventions for adults in the United Kingdom.