INTRODUCTION. The availability of healthy options in food stores is important to healthy eating and obesity prevention. The Health Statistics and Geography Lab at UMass Medical School is conducting longitudinal surveys to determine the availability of healthy food in food stores throughout the state of Massachusetts as part the Community Transformation Grant and Mass in Motion initiatives. Providing feedback to store proprietors and managers as well as community workers is an important component to support community environmental interventions. METHODS. The Community Nutrition Environment Evaluation Data System (C-NEEDS) was developed for food environment surveillance. C-NEEDS takes into account seasonal and geographic variations in food supplies, cultural relevance, and USDA dietary recommendations. Since May 2012, nearly 1300 food stores throughout Massachusetts have been surveyed and analyzed. Healthy Food Availability Index (HFAI) is calculated for each store (range: 0 to 56), with a higher score indicating greater availability of healthy items. REPORTS. Store-level reports are provided to proprietors and managers of individual food stores in conjunction with community workers. The reports provide HFAI scores for the store for the current year, previous year(s), if available, comparing to the average scores of similar stores within the same community. Community workers and proprietors of food stores can use the store-level reports to determine areas of need and appropriate intervention methodology. Community-level feedback reports provide information on average scores, by store type, for their community as well as for communities of similar size and socio-demographic status. They can be used to compare community HFAI to comparable communities as well as track change in scores over time. DISCUSSION. Providing feedback to community workers and food store owners is an essential aspect of community enviornment interventions. The information contained in the C-NEEDS feedback reports provides benchmarks for both store owners and communities to achieve.

INTRODUCTION. The availability of healthy menu options in restaurants is an important factor in the prevention of obesity. The Mass in Motion Initiative and two Community Transformation Grant (CTG) projects are conducting statewide longitudinal surveys to determine the availability of healthy food in restaurants in the state of Massachusetts. METHODS. The Community Nutrition Environment Evaluation Data System-Restaurant (C-NEEDS-R) was developed for food environment surveillance. C-NEEDS-R takes into account seasonal and geographic variations in food supplies, cultural relevance, and USDA dietary recommendations. Between summer 2012 and winter 2013, 506 restaurants in 36 Massachusetts towns and cities were surveyed and analyzed. Through menu and site evaluation, the availability of healthy entrees was examined for each restaurant, and the total number of healthy entrees as well as the percent of healthy entrees was calculated for each restaurant. For each municipality, the average number and average percentage of healthy entrees for restaurants within the community was also calculated. RESULTS. The surveyed restaurants had average 3.2 healthy entrees on the menu, accounting for 13.4% of the total number of entrees available. The percentage of healthy options varied widely by restaurant and restaurant type, ranging from 0 to 84%, and only 15 of the 506 surveyed restaurants ( DISCUSSION. As noted, menu evaluation demonstrated that the large majority of the surveyed restaurants had few healthy entrees, indicating a need to increase availability of healthy options. Analysis of restaurant- and community-level variations in availability is useful for CTG programs to formulate and prioritize interventions. Future longitudinal surveys of food stores in the intervention and control communities will help evaluate the effectiveness of CTG interventions.