Complete the Go for Green® (G4G) Program Fidelity Assessment (PFA) to assess how well your facility is meeting the 8 G4G program requirements from marketing to menus. The G4G PFA is not an inspection. It’s a tool to identify and direct improvements for executing the G4G program.
Conduct the PFA annually to find out how your dining facility or galley measures up to the program benchmarks. Once you’ve determined your PFA score, then note any opportunities for improvement and develop an action plan to make them happen. Once your action plan has been in place for a while, re-assess the PFA sections of the program areas you targeted to see how your score has changed.
In addition, the PFA can be used with the Military Nutrition Environment Assessment Tool (mNEAT) evaluation to help improve your dining facility or galley score and build a more supportive installation food environment. While many of the mNEAT questions are general (for example, “Is there at least one healthy "Featured Meal" promoted with a sample plate, photograph, or sign at the point of choice?”), the PFA is more specific about what’s available to diners (for example, sample plates at each serving line, featured meal signs at serving stations, etc.) and can provide a deeper dive into the same topics as the mNEAT assessment.
The PFA can also help support initiatives beyond the mNEAT, including the recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) 2024 report on the DoD Food Program (GAO-24-106155). The June report made 16 recommendations, including 8 related to implementing the G4G program across the Department of Defense (DoD).
The PFA evaluation is a detailed review of the 8 program requirements, so completing it will take some time—you’ll need to carefully observe the dining facility or galley at meal times and check on program materials, such as training logs, labels, posters, promotional materials, and more.
Use these tips to get started:
- Read through the PFA before planning your evaluation. Keep in mind that you’ll need to visit the dining facility or galley at different meal times on the same day or across different days.
- Work with your dining facility or galley manager to determine the best way to complete the PFA together. Think about the questions you might quickly answer through your observations and the questions or issues you’ll need a manager's help with, such as obtaining documents or materials.
- Be efficient! Complete the PFA along with the mNEAT to help improve your local food environment.
- Check out these tips for building your action plan to help improve your dining facility or galley.
The PFA scores dining facilities and galleys on these categories:
PR #1: Standardized dissemination of training
PR #2: Food and beverage coding based on approved G4G criteria
PR #3: G4G menu coding goals: G4G menu meets menu coding goals, planned vs served menu, recipe fidelity
PR #4: Standardized display of G4G color and sodium codes
PR #5: Food-placement strategies
PR #6: Promotion of green-coded foods
PR #7: Marketing and education: print materials, social media, dining facility and galley G4G grand opening, general marketing after grand opening, nutrition education
PR #8: Staff training at dining facility and galley level: staff trainer, in-person staff training using powerpoint G4G training modules, staff training hands-on training G4G
If you need assistance with completing the PFA or aren’t sure where to start, please reach out to the G4G Program Office at G4GTeam@usuhs.edu. We can also assist you with developing and completing an intervention or improvement plan based on your PFA results.
Published on: March 6, 2025