Publications

Below are my publications from the past 5 years. See my CV for a full publications listing.

Sections

Food Waste & Food Rescue/Food Pantries
Food System Resilience
Sustainable Food Systems
Other Topics (Food Policy, Agriculture, etc.)
Textbook

Food Waste & Food Rescue

  1. Harper K, Espat S, Davis L, Labruto N, Neff R. 2025. Methods for Using Worker-Centered Research to Improve Food Donation and Reduce Wasted Food in a Grocery Retail Setting. Frontiers in Public Health – Public Health Education and Promotion. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1609717
  2. Harper K, Espinelli N, Neff R, Shah T. 2025. Evaluating school-based food pantries using a health equity perspective. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development. 14(4), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.144.012   
  3. Love DC, Brown M, Viglia S, Asche F, Fry J, Garlock TM, Jenkins LD, Nguyen L, Anderson J, Nussbaumer EM, Neff R. Environmental impacts and food loss and waste in the U.S. aquatic food system. 2025. Global Environmental Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.102964
  4. Lightner A, Williamson S, Sundermeir SM, Lewis EC, Matsuzaki M, Poirier L, Thomas A, Reznar MM, Neff R, Barnett DJ, Oladimeji AT, Igusa T, Velez-Burgess V, Attar N, Attar N, Gagnon B, Moses L, Gittelsohn J. 2025. Formative research for an innovative digital application to strengthen healthy food access and resilience in food pantries: The Support Application for Food PAntrieS (SAFPAS) study. The Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2025.2482149.
  5. Milliron BJ, Neff R, Sherman R, Forde D, Miller L, Stott D, Mountford A, Deutsch J. Culinary Home Empowerment for Food Waste Prevention and Minimization (CHEF-WPM): Protocol to investigate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a household food waste prevention and minimization intervention. 2024. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13162529
  6. Torres Arroyo M, Luna-Reyes L, Xue Romeiko X, Neff R, Klein A, Pernicka N, Crasto-Donelly P, Klein A, Pettigrew S, Hosler AS, Bozlak C, Feingold B. 2024. Weeding through surplus: Unintended policy consequences for perishable food recovery – insights from a community-engaged simulation model. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143930
  7. Mu T, Feingold B, Hosler A, Bozlak C, Chen J, Neff R, Torres M, Crasto-Donnelly P, Pernicka N, Pettigrew S, Russak V, Yourch P, Romeiko XX. 2024. Comparing life cycle environmental impacts of food access and consumption pre- and during COVID 19 in New York State’s Capital Region. Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175037
  8. Love DC, Asche F, Fry J, Brown M, Nguyen L, Garlock T, Nussbaumer EM, Sarmiento GL, Tveteraas S, Neff RA. Fisheries and aquaculture by-products: Case studies in Norway, United States, and Vietnam. 2024. Marine Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106276
  9. Barnett DJ, Sundermeir SM, Reznar MM, Lightner A, Poirier L, Rosenblum AJ, Oladimeji AT, Igusa T, Neff R, Ruggiero CF, Lewis ED, Jager L, Moses L, Velez-Burgess, V, Gagnon B, Attar N, Gittelsohn J. 2024. Protocol for the Support Application for Food PAntrieS (SAFPAS) trial: Design, implementation and evaluation plan for a digital application to promote healthy food access and support food pantry operations. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1340707
  10. Love D, Asche F, Fry J, Nguyen L, Gephart J, Garlock T, Jenkins L, Anderson J, Brown M, Viglia S, Nussbaumer E, Neff RA. 2023. Aquatic food loss and waste rate in the United States is half of earlier estimates.  Nature Food. 4, 1058-1069. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00881-z
  11. Ceryes C, Rittenberg CG, Edwards D, Khan S, Heley K, Seifu L, Neff RA. Farmer incentives for crop donation: A qualitative study.  2023. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems & Community Development.  12(4), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2023.124.002  
  12. Spiker ML, Welling J, Hertenstein D, Mishra S, Mishra K, Hurley K.M., Neff RA, Fanzo J, Lee, BY. 2023. Increasing vegetable production without supply chain improvements fails to close food availability gaps: A simulation model in India. Food Policy. In press.
  13. Babbitt CW, Neff RA, Roe B, Siddiqui S, Chavis C, Trabold T. 2022. Transforming wasted food will require systemic and sustainable infrastructure innovations. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101151
  14. Pruden B, Reznar MM, Gunen B, Yan S, Neff RA, Poirier L, Hinman S, Park R, Katragadda N, Goskinski N, & Gittelsohn, J. (2022). Assessing the quality and quantity of initially unused food among urban food pantry clients in Baltimore, Maryland. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. 10.1080/19320248.2022.2032896
  15. Ceryes CA, Antonacci CA, Harvey S, Spiker ML, Bickers A, Neff RA. “Maybe it’s still good?” Supermarket workers’ experiences of food waste reduction, recycling, and rescue efforts. Appetite. 2021. June 1; 161: 105111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105111  
  16. Neff RA, Love DC, Overbey K, Biehl E, Deutsch J, Gorski-Steiner I, Pearson P, Vigil T, Turvey C, Fry JP. 2021. Consumer seafood waste and the potential of a “direct-from-frozen” approach to prevention. Foods. https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/10/11/2524/htm
  17. Turvey C, Moran M, Sacheck J, Arashiro A, Huang Q, Heley K, Johnston E, Neff RA. 2021. Impact of Messaging Strategy on Consumer Understanding of Food Date Labels. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior 53:5, P389-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2021.03.007
  18. National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine. 2020. A National Strategy to Reduce Wasted Food at the Consumer Level: A Consensus Study Report. Board on Environmental Change and Society; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. https://www.nap.edu/read/25876/ 6 chapters, 250 pp.

    Food System Resilience

    1. Koutsopoulos MT, Luna-Reyes LF, Bozlak CT, Neff R, Mu T, Romeiko XX, Guo Z, Hosler AS, Pettigrew SM, Pernicka N, Crasto-Donnelly P, Klein A, Feingold BJ. 2026. Sustainable recovery from shocks: Policies and partnerships for fresh produce rescue and environmental impact reduction. Foods. 15(3), 582. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15030582
    2. Moore ERH, Burke M, Biehl E, Neff RA. Planning for food system disruptions: lessons learned about resilience attributes from local governments’ emergency food response efforts. 2025. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. V.9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1563045
    3. Lara-Arévalo J, Escobar-Burgos L, Moore E, Neff RA, Spiker M. 2023. COVID-19, Climate Change, and Conflict in Honduras: A food system disruption analysis. Global Food Security. In press.
    4. Sundermeir SM, Biehl E, Acciai F, Moynihan E, Niles MT, Neff RA. 2024. U.S. state-level containment policies not associated with food insecurity changes during the early COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-level analysis. Public Health Nutrition. 2025;28(1):e37. doi:10.1017/S1368980024002696.
    5. Lloyd J, Moore E, Dowell L, Neff R.2024. A comparative national-level analysis of government food system resilience activities. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17919-x
    6. Hosler A, Romeiko XX, Neff RA, Bozlak C, Chen J, Torres M, Feingold B.  Fruit and vegetable consumption, food acquisition behavior, and food insecurity before and after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, 2020-2021.2024. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice.  https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000001946
    7. Clay LA, Koyratty N, Rogus S, Colon-Ramos U, Hossan A, Josephson A, Neff R, Zack RM, Niles MT. 2023. A mixed methods approach to the development of a disaster food security framework. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  123:10. S46-58. https://doi-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/10.1016/j.jand.2023.05.005
    8. Moore E, Biehl E, Burke M, Misiaszek C, Bassarab K, Neff RA. Food System Resilience: A Planning Guide for Local Governments. Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. https://clf.jhsph.edu/sites/default/files/2022-12/the-resilience-planning-guide.pdf
    9. Moynihan E, Avraam C, Siddiqui S, Neff RA. 2022. Optimization Based Modeling for the Food Supply Chain’s Resilience to Outbreaks. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.887819
    10. Avraam C, Zhang Y, Sankaranarayanan S, Zaitchik B, Moynihan E, Juturu P, Neff RA, Siddiqui S. Optimization-based systems modeling for the food-energy-water nexus. Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports 8:4-16. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-020-00161-5

    Sustainable Food Systems (Includes Diets, Seafood)

    1. Moore ERH, Moran AA, Stadler L, Solomon E, Angell SY, Neff RA. 2026. NYC’s Food Procurement and Service Policy Associated with a Substantial Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Health Affairs. In press.
    2. Edwards DM, Ondish P, Neff R. 2025. Increasing meatless options to decrease meat consumption – a quantitative analysis of the relationship between the percentage of meatless items offered on a specials menu and meatless purchases. Food Quality & Preference. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105763
    3. Orta-Aleman D, Thorne-Lyman AL, Neff R, Wolfson J, Caulfield LE. 2024. Reduced red and processed meat consumption is associated with lower diet costs in US households: A national analysis of protein substitutions. Public Health Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980024001897
    4. Bertoldo J, Fammartino A, Egan S, Neff R, Grekin R, Wolfson JA. 2024. Evaluating Food Procurement Against EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Guidelines in a Sample of U.S. Universities. IJERPH. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21070945   
    5. Rajagopalan S, Ramaswami A, Bhatnagar A, Brook R, Fenton M, Gardner C, Neff RA, Russell A, Seto KC, Whitsel LP; on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension; Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health; Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease; Council on Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young; Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia; and the American Heart Association Advocacy Coordinating Committee.  2024. Towards Heart-healthy and Sustainable Cities: A Policy Statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. https://10.1161/CIR.0000000000001217 
    6. Fry JF, Scroggins RE, Garlock TM, Love D, Asche F, Brown MT, Nussbaumer E, Nguyen L, Jenkins LD, Anderson J, Neff RA. 2024. Application of the food-energy-water nexus to six seafood supply chains: Hearing from wild and farmed seafood supply chain actors in the U.S., Norway, and Vietnam. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1269026
    7. Neff RA, Ramsing R, Kim B. 2023. Commercial weight-loss diets may greatly exceed sustainable targets for greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. https://doi-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/10.1111/jhn.13248
    8. Orta-Aleman D, Caulfield L, Neff R, Thorne-Lyman A, Wolfson J. The Cost of Substituting Red Meat or Processed Meat for Other High-Protein Food Sources. Current Developments in Nutrition. V7 S1 July 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.100826
    9. Scroggins RE, Fry JP, Brown MT, Neff RA, Asche F, Anderson JL, Love DC. 2022. Renewable energy use in United States farmed catfish and wild-capture salmon production. J of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134153
    10. Viglia S, Brown MT, Love DC, Fry JP, Scroggins R, Neff RA. 2022. Analysis of Energy and Water Use in US Farmed Catfish: toward a more resilient and sustainable production system. Journal of cleaner production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134796   
    11. Brown MT, Viglia S, Love D, Asche F, Nussbaumer E, Fry J, Hilborn R, Neff RA. 2022. Quantifying the Environmental Support to Wild Catch Alaskan Sockeye Salmon and FarmedNorwegian Atlantic Salmon: an emergy approach. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133379
    12. Brown MT, Viglia S, Love D, Fry J, Neff RA, Hilborn R. 2022. Wild caught Alaska sockeye salmon: a case study of the food energy water nexus for a sustainable wild catch fishery. Journal of Cleaner Production. 369:1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133263

    Other Topics: Food Policy, Workers, Equity, Agriculture, Nutrition, etc.

    1. Neff RA and Kowalczyk B. “Food Systems, the Environment, and Public Health.” In Frumkin H. (ed). Environmental Health: Global to Local, 4th edition. [textbook]. Wiley-Jossey Bass: San Francisco. 2026.
    2. Berg P and Neff RA. “Food Systems.” In Latshaw M and Bressler J, eds. The Environment and Your Health.  [textbook]. Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore. 2026.Zaltz DA, Neff RA, Ritchie LD, Chriqui JF, Benjamin-Neelon SE, ECE Beverage Collective. 2025. Child Beverage Consumption in US Early Care and Education Settings, 2008 – 2020. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2025.01.005.
    3. Zaltz D, Weir B, Neff RA, Benjamin-Neelon S. 2024. Projected impact of replacing juice with whole fruit in early care and education. Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2024.10.017
    4. Ceryes CA, Agnew J, Wirtz AL, Barnett DJ, Neff RA. 2023. Exploring U.S. food system workers’ intentions to work while ill during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a national survey.  Int J Environ Res Public Health. 10.3390/ijerph20021638
    5. Robinson-Oghogho J, Thorpe RJ, Neff RA. 2022. Dietary behaviors among new users of meal-kit services during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nutrients. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14193953.
    6. Kharmats AY, Corrigan AE Curriero, FC, Neff R, Caulfield L, Kennedy CE, Whitley J, Montazer JS, Hu L, Gittelsohn J. 2022. Geospatial food environment exposure and obesity among low income Baltimore City children: Comparisons across data sources and data processing methods.  Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2022.2090882
    7. Hecht AA, Neff RA, Kelley TL, Pollack Porter, KM. Universal Free Schools Meals through the Community Eligibility Provision: Maryland School Food Service Provider Perspectives on Implementation and Impact. 2021. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development. 10:2. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2021.102.033 
    8. Ceryes CA, Robinson J, Biehl E, Wirtz AL, Barnett DJ, Neff RA. 2021. Frequency of workplace controls and associations with safety perceptions among a national sample of U.S. food retail workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 63:7, 557-64.https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000002218  

    Affiliations

    Note: Affiliations provided for information only. This is an independent website and has not been reviewed by these entities.

    Center for a Livable Future

    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

    Department of Environmental Health & Engineering

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