Research Article: Food Availability and the Food Desert Frame in Detroit: An Overview of the City's Food System

The food environment is well documented as an important emphasis for public health intervention. While theoretical models of the relationship between the food environment and dietary outcomes have been proposed, empirical testing of conceptual models has been limited. The purpose of this study was to explore which factors in nutrition environments are significantly associated with dietary outcomes in two urban, low-income, and minority food desert communities. This study analyzed cross-sectional data based on 796 participants from the Food in Our Neighborhood Study. Participants were recruited based on a random sample of addresses in neighborhood study areas, Philadelphia, PA (n = 393) and Trenton, NJ (n = 403). Main dietary outcomes were Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores and fruit and vegetable consumption subscores computed from ASA24® assessments. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted and yielded a model of four factors with 22 items. Among four factors that emerged, three factors (Perceptions of Neighborhood Food Availability; and Household Food Challenges) were significantly correlated with dietary outcomes. My Store’s Quality and Perceptions of Neighborhood Food Availability were positively correlated with vegetable consumption subscore. The Household Food Challenges factor was negatively correlated with both vegetable subscore and overall HEI score (i.e., more household challenges were associated with lower dietary scores). These findings confirmed the importance of perceived nutrition environments and household food challenges in predicting dietary outcomes among residents of two urban, low-income, and minority food desert communities.

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Social capital contributions to food security: a comprehensive literature review.

10.31220/agrirxiv.2020.00021 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Nesrine Khazami ◽

Marwa Ben Abdallah ◽

Zoltan Lackner ◽

Shahab S. Band ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Food Security ◽

Literature Review ◽

Food Availability ◽

Food System ◽

Food Products ◽

System Stability ◽

Household Food Security ◽

Food Utilization ◽

Community Members

Abstract Social capital creates a synergy that brings many benefits to the members of a community. The purpose of this study is to examine how social capital contributes to the food security of communities. A systematic literature review based on Prisma is designed to provide a state of the art review on capacity social capital in this realm. The output of this method led to finding 39 related articles. Precise studying these articles illustrated that social capital improves food security through two mechanisms of knowledge sharing and product sharing (i.e., sharing food products). It revealed that social capital through improving the food security pillars (i.e., food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and food system stability) affects food security. In other words, the interaction among the community members results in sharing food products and information among community members, which facilitates food availability and access to food. There are many shreds of evidence in the literature that sharing food and food products among the community member decreases household food security and provides healthy nutrition to vulnerable families, and improves the food utilization pillar of food security. In addition, it is disclosed that belonging to the social networks increases the community members' resilience and decreases the vulnerability of the community that subsequently strengthens the stability of a food system. This study contributes to the common literature on food security and social capital by providing a conceptual model based on the literature. In addition to researchers, policymakers can use this study's findings to provide solutions to address food insecurity problems.

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Food Desertification: Situating Choice and Class Relations within an Urban Political Economy of Declining Food Access

Studies in Social Justice ◽

10.26522/ssj.v8i2.1034 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 207-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Melanie Bedore

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Low Income ◽

Consumer Choice ◽

Food Access ◽

Food System ◽

Food Desert ◽

Urban Landscapes ◽

Urban Political Economy

While food deserts create whole sets of tangible consequences for people living within them, the problem has yet to be the subject of much normative, in-depth evaluation as an urban political economy of food access. This paper provides a critical analysis of a specific food desert and its responses, drawing on a case study of the low-income, spatially segregated North End of the small city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main thrust of the paper is that the food desert remains a useful yet underexplored phenomenon through which to reveal the complexities and tensions surrounding the treatment of “choice” in a classed society. Understood as an urban political economy of declining food access, the food desert phenomenon reveals capital’s complex role in the promotion or violation of dignity through the urban geographies of acquiring food for oneself, family, or household. Through the data presented here, the article also argues for a collective pause among critical scholars to radicalize, rather than reject, the role of consumer choice in a more just food system, and for further normative engagement with urban landscapes of retail consolidation.

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Correlates of Healthy Eating in Urban Food Desert Communities

10.21203/rs.3.rs-41433/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Allison Karpyn ◽

Candace R. Young ◽

Zachary Collier ◽

Karen Glanz

Keyword(s):

Food Availability ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Low Income ◽

Eating Behaviors ◽

Conceptual Models ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Food Desert ◽

Household Food ◽

Food Challenges ◽

Study Participants

Abstract Background Understanding the most important elements of nutrition environments that affect eating behaviors can inform public health nutrition policy and programs Conceptual models depict interrelationships between these elements. However, empirical testing of conceptual models of nutrition environments and eating behaviors has been limited. The purpose of this study was to explore which factors in nutrition environments are significantly associated with dietary outcomes in two urban, low-income, and minority food desert communities.Methods This study analyzed cross-sectional baseline data from the Food in Our Neighborhood Study (FIONS). FIONS data were from adults recruited based on a random sample of addresses in neighborhood study areas of Philadelphia, PA and Trenton, NJ that were each three square miles and designated as low supermarket access areas. Study participants were required to live within one of the study areas and be the primary adult food shopper for the household. Study participants responded to a survey with ten domains that included shopping preferences, grocery spending, home food availability, perceived neighborhood nutrition environment, background characteristics, and ASA24® dietary assessments. Store audits were conducted in both study areas to estimate observed nutrition environments. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on over 120 survey items and yielded a model of four factors with 22 items. MIMIC model analyses were performed on these four factors controlling for covariates. Main dietary outcomes were Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores and fruit and vegetable consumption subscores computed from ASA24® assessments.Results The sample included 796 participants (n = 393, Philadelphia, PA; n = 403, Trenton, NJ) with demographics representative of urban, minority and low-income food desert communities: 60% were African-American, 55% had annual household incomes <$30,000, 45% participated in SNAP or WIC, and 58% experienced at least some food insecurity. Among four factors that emerged in EFA, three (My Store’s Quality; Perceptions of Neighborhood Food Availability; and Household Food Challenges) were significantly correlated with vegetable consumption subscores, and one (Household Food Challenges) was significantly associated with HEI scores.Conclusions This research tested and confirmed the importance of perceived nutrition environments and household food challenges in predicting dietary outcomes among residents of two urban, low-income, and minority food desert communities.

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Social Capital Contributions to Food Security: A Comprehensive Literature Review

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods9111650 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 1650

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Nesrine Khazami ◽

Marwa Ben Abdallah ◽

Zoltan Lackner ◽

Shahab S. Band ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Food Security ◽

Literature Review ◽

Food Availability ◽

Food System ◽

Food Products ◽

System Stability ◽

Household Food Security ◽

Food Utilization ◽

Community Members

Social capital creates a synergy that benefits all members of a community. This review examines how social capital contributes to the food security of communities. A systematic literature review, based on Prisma, is designed to provide a state of the art review on capacity social capital in this realm. The output of this method led to finding 39 related articles. Studying these articles illustrates that social capital improves food security through two mechanisms of knowledge sharing and product sharing (i.e., sharing food products). It reveals that social capital through improving the food security pillars (i.e., food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and food system stability) affects food security. In other words, the interaction among the community members results in sharing food products and information among community members, which facilitates food availability and access to food. There are many shreds of evidence in the literature that sharing food and food products among the community member decreases household food security and provides healthy nutrition to vulnerable families, and improves the food utilization pillar of food security. It is also disclosed that belonging to the social networks increases the community members’ resilience and decreases the community’s vulnerability that subsequently strengthens the stability of a food system. This study contributes to the common literature on food security and social capital by providing a conceptual model based on the literature. In addition to researchers, policymakers can use this study’s findings to provide solutions to address food insecurity problems.

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The Food Desert as a Concept and Policy Tool in African Cities: An Opportunity and a Risk

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11020458 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 458 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jane Battersby

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Low Income ◽

Food System ◽

Food Desert ◽

African Cities ◽

Policy Interventions ◽

Policy Tool ◽

Poor Access ◽

African Context

The idea that food insecurity can be resolved by increasing the presence of supermarkets has been gaining traction in African cities and has recently gained political traction in Africa. This paper interrogates the potential value and risks associated with the adoption of the discourse of the food desert in the African context. The paper draws on findings from a households survey, neighborhoods-scale food retail mapping and surveys, and city-wide supermarket mapping conducted in Cape Town (South Africa), Kisumu (Kenya), and Kitwe (Zambia). Following a discussion of why the concept is gaining traction, the paper identifies false assumptions associated with the food desert framing in Africa, namely: supermarkets provide better access to healthier food, low-income areas have poor access to healthy food; and food security can be reduced to economic and physical accessibility. The paper concludes that although the food desert concept may be valuable for African researchers to provoke debates about systemic inequality, the food desert policy narrative should be rejected as it is ill-informed by the lived experiences of food insecurity in African cities and may promote policy interventions that erode rather than enhance the capacity of the food system to meet the food security needs of African urbanites.

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Field report

Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/dpm-12-2018-0381 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 379-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lauren A. Clay

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Food Availability ◽

Food Environment ◽

Disaster Recovery ◽

Food Access ◽

Food System ◽

Environmental Disaster ◽

Content Type ◽

Related Response ◽

Immediate Response

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore issues related to the food environment from a systems perspective using a quick response disaster research methodology in New Bern, North Carolina during the immediate response to Hurricane Florence in 2018. Design/methodology/approach A four person reconnaissance team arrived six days after Hurricane Florence made landfall to observe community food and meal provision, interview individuals working in food related response, assess the price, quality and availability of food, and interview individuals affected by the storm during the immediate response period to Hurricane Florence in New Bern, North Carolina. Findings Multiple issues emerged that are important for the understanding of food in a disaster recovery context including food access issues for households with flooding damage as well as those with minor impacts like electricity loss or evacuation without damage, disruption to farming and retail food business, and changes in food availability. Practical implications When examining food access and food security, many community members were affected that did not experience housing disruption and there were shifts in community food availability after Hurricane Florence. Understanding these disruptions is critical for evaluating food-related response and assistance following disaster to ensure unmet needs are addressed. Further, addressing community food needs is an important lever for bolstering disaster recovery. Originality/value This is the first study in the USA to examine the food system following disruption from an environmental disaster and to identify issues in the post-disaster food environment.

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A health and food-system analysis of Brexit-related policy approaches

10.21203/rs.3.rs-128413/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Florian Freund ◽

Marco Springmann

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Free Trade ◽

Food Availability ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

System Analysis ◽

Food System ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Health Promoting ◽

The Uk ◽

Related Mortality

Abstract Brexit is expected to have significant impacts on the UK food system, which has implications for dietary risk factors and public health. Here we use an integrated economic-health modelling framework to analyse the impacts of different policy approaches to Brexit. According to our analysis, a “Hard Brexit” could increase diet-related mortality in the UK as costs for health-promoting and import-dependent foods, such as fruits and vegetables, increase and their consumption decreases. Negotiating free-trade agreements with the USA and Commonwealth countries as part of a “Global Britain” approach led to relative increases in food availability, but not of health-promoting foods, resulting in further increases in diet and weight-related mortality. Negotiating a free-trade agreement with the EU addressed both food availability and fruit and vegetable intake, which halved the increases in mortality. Combining this “Soft Brexit” approach with an agricultural subsidy reform that incentivises greater production of fruits and vegetables mitigated the Brexit-related increases in risk factors and led to net improvements in diet-related mortality.

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Abstract P304: Food Stores, Food Markets and Healthy Food Availability in Comparable Urban Neighborhoods in Madrid and Baltimore

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.129.suppl_1.p304 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 129 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Usama Bilal ◽

Julia Diez ◽

Carlos Martinez de la Serna ◽

Manuel Franco

Keyword(s):

Food Availability ◽

Urban Form ◽

Food System ◽

Healthy Food ◽

Grocery Stores ◽

Food Markets ◽

Food Stores ◽

Public Markets ◽

Healthy Food Availability ◽

Prepared Food

Introduction: Neighborhood environments pose an adequate policy target for the development of interventions aimed at improving the cardiovascular health of their residents. Our objective was to assess the Food Stores, Food Markets and Healthy Food Availability in two comparable neighborhoods in a European (Madrid) and an American city (Baltimore), to shed light into possible food system interventions that would improve resident’s nutritional profile. Methods: We selected one neighborhood (~15000 pop) in each city based on the Median Neighborhood Index, a method that selects contiguous areas within a city that are less extreme in terms of education, aging, segregation and urban form. This method looks for clusters of non-extreme neighborhoods using the SaTSCAN statistic. For each neighborhood we directly collected information on the types of food stores present and the availability of healthy foods carried in side the stores. We classified stores into Public Markets, Supermarkets, Grocery Stores, Specialty Stores and Corner/Convenience/Gas Stations. We measured healthy food availability using a brief and modified version of the Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) developed by the Center for a Livable Future (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). This score ranges from 0 to 27. We performed a descriptive analysis of stores and public markets, mapping the amount of stores by categories and their healthy food availability. Results: The number of stores located in the neighborhood selected in Madrid was 41, with around 25 stores per 10000 residents. The number of stores in Baltimore was 19, with around 17 stores per 10000 residents. The main difference in terms of types of stores was between Madrid’s 12 Specialty Stores (mostly devoted to fruit/vegetable retailing) vs. 0 in the Baltimore area; and Baltimore’s 8 Convenience Stores, vs. Madrid’s 1. In terms of healthy food availability, this was similar across types of stores except for the Corner/Convenience/Gas Station category where Madrid had a mean healthy food availability of 13.2 vs. 9.3 in Baltimore. In terms of public markets, both areas had one market present, with very different characteristics. The Madrid’s market of “Las Ventas” is a three storied indoors market with 112 stands, mostly devoted to fruit/vegetable (n= (n=34), meat/dairy (n=38), and fish retailing (n=19), open all year-round 6 days a week. Only three stands served prepared food. Baltimore’s 32nd Street Farmers Market is a smaller market (50 stands total), open all year-wide once a week (Saturday mornings), mostly devoted to fruit/vegetable retailing (n=20), meat/dairy (n=9) and prepared food (n=10). Conclusions: This study compared two neighborhoods in Madrid and Baltimore portraying two different food systems highlighting major differences in the distribution of food stores and food availability.

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