The Impact of a Local Ordinance on the Availability of Cultural Foods in Convenience Stores and Non-traditional Food Stores

Background: Limited access to culturally preferred foods serves as a barrier to healthy diet consumption among vulnerable populations, including low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Large supermarkets are often unavailable, leaving greater access to convenience and non-traditional stores in these areas. In 2015, the Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance was enforced and required food stores to meet a minimum stocking for a variety of healthy foods/beverages. The purpose of this study is to assess the ordinance impact on the availability of culturally preferred foods in corner and non-traditional food stores located in immigrant populations of color and African American neighborhoods. Methods: The present analysis was conducted using data from the STORE (Staple foods Ordinance Evaluation) study. Culturally preferred foods were identified from a list of food items in the parent study and used to assess changes in availability in stores between neighboring cities, Minneapolis (ordinance) and Saint Paul (control), Minnesota, U.S.A.. A subset of 60 stores from Minneapolis (n = 31) and Saint Paul (n = 29) were used for the final analysis. The analysis included stores located in one of the four identified communities of color, where 20% of the census tract population classified as either Black/African American, Latinx, Asian, or East African. Changes in cultural food availability were analyzed at pre-ordinance and 12 months post-enforcement time points using SAS, including descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed models. Results: In Minneapolis, 80.7% of stores had at least one culturally relevant food available pre-ordinance, compared to 90.3% post-ordinance, a difference that was not statistically different. Stores did not have a great variety of culturally relevant foods pre- or post-ordinance, and overall findings show no significant changes over time and/ or between Minneapolis and St. Paul. There was a 23% increase in availability of cultural food items from pre to post ordinance for corporate-owned stores, though this change was not statistically significant, and no change for independently owned stores. Conclusions: The presence of cultural foods did not significantly increase with local ordinance implementation. Further interventions may be needed to address cultural food availability and variety in small, independent stores near lower-income areas and communities of color. Trial registration: NCT02774330