LOS ANGELES (July 18, 2024) — Project Angel Food, the Los Angeles non-profit dedicated to providing medically tailored meals (MTM) to people living with critical illnesses, has become one of only four organizations in the country to earn accreditation from the Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC).

Project Angel Food’s MTM program offers meals that are medically tailored by registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) to meet the nutritional needs of clients with severe, complex, and/or chronic illnesses. As part of the medically tailored meal intervention, clients receive RDN education and coaching to support long-term management of their nutrition and overall health.

As the “food is medicine” movement grows nationally and the White House’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health includes a focus on medically tailored meals, the FIMC MTM Accreditation establishes reliable standards to ensure high quality and consistency for medically tailored meals nationwide.

Through the accreditation process, Project Angel Food went through a FIMC audit process against the FIMC MTM Intervention Accreditation Criteria and Requirements (FIMC MTM ACR), and then the FIMC Membership and Accreditation Committee verified Project Angel Food’s status as an agency delivering high-quality, medically tailored meal intervention. The Food is Medicine Coalition accreditation demonstrates to clients, healthcare partners, donors, partner agencies and the community at large that Project Angel Food provides the highest standards in meals and services that significantly impact the health of individuals with critical illnesses.

“Through the rigorous Accreditation process, Project Angel Food has demonstrated high-quality MTM service provision and leadership in the field of food is medicine, FIMC Executive Director Alissa Wassung said. “By achieving Accreditation, FIMC verified Project Angel Food’s fidelity to our FIMC MTM model and reliable MTM service to clients.”

The rigorous FIMC accreditation process examines numerous aspects of each agency’s operation and MTM service, including nutritional quality, meal packaging and labeling, delivery model, volunteer and client services, and food safety practices. To meet these standards, meals can use no artificial food coloring, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, trans fats, or be ultra processed, with minor exceptions.

Project Angel Food: A Legacy of Leadership in Medically Tailored Meals

Established in 1989, Project Angel Food started in a church kitchen as a volunteer response to the AIDS epidemic. Today, it supports Los Angeles County residents living with various critical illnesses, including HIV, severe diabetes, heart disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, and end-stage renal disease. Delivering nearly 1.5 million meals each year to 5,272 clients, the organization has surpassed the 18 millionth meal mark. Project Angel Food is the only nonprofit provider of medically tailored, home-delivered meals in Los Angeles County. Its mission is to nourish the health and spirit of vulnerable people facing critical and life-threatening illness by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals with love, care, and dignity.

The FIMC MTM Accreditation Program synthesizes FIMC agencies’ nearly four decades of experience with medically tailored meals into a measurable, auditable standard. This standard allows nonprofit meal providers to earn accreditation specifically for the proven medically tailored meal intervention. The accreditation signals verified credibility of an operation and ensures fidelity to high-quality MTM intervention, regardless of location, size, types of critical illnesses served, or number of clients catered to.

Medically tailored meal interventions, like those provided by Project Angel Food, reduce the downstream need for more intensive healthcare services. For example, studies have shown that the medically tailored meal intervention can lead to reductions in emergency department visits (70%), inpatient hospital admissions (52%), admissions to skilled nursing facilities (72%), and net healthcare costs (16%). As a result, a 2022 study projected that if all eligible patients in Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance received medically tailored meals, the U.S. healthcare system could avert 1.6 million hospitalizations and $13.6 billion in healthcare costs each year, even after accounting for the cost of the programs.

“Project Angel Food has been a beacon of health and healing in Los Angeles for 35 years. As a founding member of the Food is Medicine Coalition in 2012, receiving this accreditation from FIMC both reinforces our standing as a leader in the field and as an organization that centers quality in our entire operation,” Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub said. “This accreditation is formal recognition of the excellent services we provide to our clients and signals a level of service that can be trusted.”

To learn more about FIMC Accreditation, visit fimcoalition.org. For more ways to support Project Angel Food through volunteering, donations, and more, visit angelfood.org.

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ABOUT FOOD IS MEDICINE COALITION

The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is the national coalition of nonprofit organizations that provide medically tailored meals (MTMs) and groceries (MTGs), medical nutrition therapy, and nutrition counseling and education to people in communities across the country who are living with severe, complex, and chronic illnesses. FIMC agencies created the medically tailored meal intervention as a response to community need nearly 40 years ago and maintain the nutrition standards for the intervention. We advance equitable access to these life-saving interventions through policy change, research and evaluation, and best practices. Visit fimcoalition.org for more information.

ABOUT PROJECT ANGEL FOOD

Project Angel Food was founded in 1989 by Marianne Williamson, who enlisted volunteers to prepare and deliver free meals to neighbors who were sick with HIV/AIDS and unable to cook for themselves. In 2004, the organization expanded its mission to serve people with all life-threatening and critical illnesses. On any given day, Project Angel Food serves more than 2,700 critically ill individuals living in Los Angeles County. It has been twice named California’s Nonprofit of the Year, is a Charity Navigator Four-Star Organization, and has been declared an essential service by the City of Los Angeles.

For 35 years, Project Angel Food has been responding to the needs of L.A.’s most vulnerable citizens, doubling the number of clients served since pre-COVID-19. Project Angel Food is the only nonprofit provider of medically tailored nutrition in Los Angeles and serves clients at no cost thanks to generous donors and more than 3,500 volunteers each year who dedicate over 40,000 hours annually, equivalent to 22 full-time employees. Learn more about Project Angel Food’s vital mission, volunteer opportunities, or donate at angelfood.org. Connect with Project Angel Food on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.