Abbott and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) are launching a multi-year "food is medicine" initiative designed to make nutrition a formal, measurable component of primary care at more than 1,500 community health centers (CHCs) nationwide — a network that serves 52.3 million people, including 1 in 7 Americans and 1 in 3 rural residents.
The partnership, formalized as the NACHC and Abbott Food for Health Initiative, builds on collaboration between the two organizations that began in 2023. A 2025 assessment of CHCs across 37 states identified strong interest in integrating food-based care but flagged fragmented funding, inconsistent training, uneven data collection, and gaps in clinical implementation as the primary obstacles to scaling those efforts.
Three-Part Framework
The initiative addresses those barriers through three interconnected components. The Food for Health Learning Lab delivers structured training to build nutrition literacy across the CHC workforce and guides centers in implementing and measuring food-is-medicine interventions. The Food for Health Community of Practice creates a national peer-learning network where health centers share best practices and troubleshoot challenges with input from subject-matter experts. The Food for Health CORE — Certification of Readiness and Excellence — is a voluntary national certification that recognizes CHCs that have developed the systems, processes, and competencies needed to sustain food-for-health programs long-term.
The initiative operates as a signature program of NACHC's Center for Nutrition and Health, which is designed to function as an innovation hub connecting public and private partners, CHCs, and policy stakeholders.
Why It Matters for Food and Beverage
For food and beverage suppliers, foodservice distributors, and manufacturers active in the healthcare and institutional nutrition channel, the initiative signals a meaningful institutional shift. As CHCs formalize nutrition as a care modality — and seek to demonstrate outcomes — demand for medically appropriate foods, meal programs, and nutrition education resources at the community-health level is likely to grow alongside the certification infrastructure.
Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President and CEO of NACHC, framed the effort as an extension of a long-standing mission. "Community Health Centers — the nation's largest network of primary care providers — have led the way in addressing food insecurity and integrating nutrition into care delivery," he said. "Our collaboration with Abbott builds on that legacy by strengthening Community Health Centers' capacity to prevent and manage nutrition-related conditions through evidence-based, practical solutions."
Melissa Brotz, Senior Vice President at Abbott and President of Abbott Fund, added that the program is about connecting access to nutritious food with clinical knowledge: "Food for Health is about bringing those things together — and we're excited to work with NACHC and Community Health Centers to help make nutrition a core part of how people prevent disease, manage chronic conditions and live healthier."
The broader food-is-medicine movement is gaining traction across both healthcare and food policy circles, intersecting with food and beverage industry trends around functional nutrition and therapeutic eating patterns. For operators and suppliers tracking nutrition and health-driven foodservice innovation, initiatives like this one represent a structural demand signal worth monitoring as institutional purchasing criteria evolve.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
