(Mason City) – The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health has launched its first smart phone and tablet app free to the public. The new app will allow users to search county restaurants based on a healthy dining score, obtained using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Restaurants (NEMS-R), produced by Pennsylvania University with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The app also lists healthy and nutritious menu options for each restaurant.
Each restaurant is scored based upon the following strategies:
- Availability of “healthy” entrées, beverages, appetizers
- Availability of nutrition information on-site and online
- Promotional methods of food and beverage purchases
- Price equality between “healthy” entrées and other entrées
Each restaurant’s score ranges between -27 and 63. Higher scores indicate that restaurants implement a high number of healthy dining strategies mentioned above. (For a complete report of the healthy dining strategies and assessment tool, visit http://www.med.upenn.edu/nems )
As a result of this project, many local restaurants have been making simple changes to improve their NEMS-R Score. “With so many families dining out on a regular basis, we are excited to offer them an easy way to select dining choices based upon nutrition with the touch of a button,” states Kelli Huinker, Health Promotion Service Manager, Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health. “With this assessment program, we have had multiple restaurants reach out to us in hopes to improve their dining environment and we are happy to recommend simple yet effective strategies to these restaurants. Our hope is that a healthier option, whether it is by price, nutrition, or marketing changes, will be available in any restaurant you choose to dine in Cerro Gordo County.”
The app was made possible through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Transformation grant and was created by WebWise Websites, Inc. of Mason City.
Residents can download the app at Google Play or I-tunes (Cerro Gordo Smart Dining).
For more information regarding the Cerro Gordo Smart Dining App, please contact Kelli Huinker, Health Promotion Manager at 641-421-9312.
