What is a grocery desert?

What is a food desert? Food deserts are geographic areas where residents have few to no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods — especially fresh fruits and vegetables.

What is considered a food desert?

food deserts as low-income tracts in which a substantial number or propor- tion of the population has low access to supermarkets or large grocery. stores.

What is considered a food desert miles?

Definition: A low-income tract with at least 500 people, or 33 percent of the population, living more than 1 mile (urban areas) or more than 20 miles (rural areas) from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.

How does the USDA define a food desert?

In the Food Desert Locator developed by USDA's Economic Research Service, a food desert census tract is defined as a low-income tract where a substantial number or substantial share of residents does not have easy access to a supermarket or large grocery store.

How does a food desert work?

Food deserts are places where a bulk of residents don't have access to affordable nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Instead of grocery stores or farmers' markets, these areas often have corner stores and gas stations with limited shelf space for healthy food options.

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Why do food deserts still exist?

Even with the abundance of stores and services in major cities, food deserts still may exist due to the lack of income by customers to purchase healthy food.

Are food deserts real?

However, recent research questions the concept of food deserts. For more than two decades, much evidence has supported their existence, but current studies suggest people in low-income areas actually live in food swamps, where they're inundated with a wide variety of both healthful and unhealthful foods.

What do you do if you live in a food desert?

Is the Bronx a food desert?

Many Bronx communities, including the Moribana neighborhood, are considered “food swamps” – inundated with fast food and limited healthy options. With that in mind, one organization is looking to educate local kids about the importance of identifying quality foods to foster a healthier living.

How many people are living in a food desert?

About 23.5 million people live in food deserts. Nearly half of them are also low-income. Approximately 2.3 million people (2.2% of all US households) live in low-income, rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket.

What is the difference between a food desert and a food swamp?

In food deserts, interventions aim to increase access to healthy foods, whereas in food swamps, the goal is to reduce the availability of or exposure to less healthy foods.

Why is South LA a food desert?

The region of South Los Angeles, California is a community with extremely limited access to fresh food. In fact, South L.A. is currently considered a food desert. The lack of access to fresh foods and a drought of supermarkets results in an influx of fast food restaurants, liquor stores, and small convenience stores.

Where are the food deserts in the United States?

Twenty percent of rural areas in the U.S. are classified as food deserts. There are small areas within each state in the U.S. that are classified as rural food deserts, but they occur most prominently in the Midwest. Within these counties, approximately 2.4 million individuals have low access to a large supermarket.

What is a food desert 2021?

Food insecurity occurs when food is either too far away or too expensive to purchase. A food desert is one type of food insecurity. When a person lives in a food desert, this means that a supermarket is more than 1 mile away in an urban area or more than 10 miles away in a rural area.

What are food deserts all you need to know?

A food desert is an area where people have very limited access to healthy, affordable food. Somebody living in a food desert faces daily obstacles preventing them from going to a grocery store and buying fresh, nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables.

Where is the biggest food desert in America?

Chicago, Illinois

Cause of the food desert: Many large grocery stores and other food businesses have had to close their shops in many Chicago neighborhoods because of poor economic conditions.

Is Harlem a food desert?

Areas long-considered food deserts include Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, Brooklyn, the South Bronx and parts of Harlem. People living there often turn to more expensive bodegas and small groceries.

Is Queens a food desert?

The report found that while there is no shortage of food options in these neighborhoods, with food swamps on the rise in Queens, it exemplifies the persistent health disparities that plague underserved communities throughout the city. The lack of healthy options can impede their ability to achieve optimal health.

Is Brooklyn a food desert?

Central Brooklyn is among the two worst “food deserts” in NYC. A food desert is a geographic area where residents' access to affordable, healthy food options, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, is restricted or nonexistent.

Is a food desert good for you?

Some research suggests that living in a food desert can negatively affect your health. A 2018 University of Texas study found an association between food insecurity and obesity among women. A diet low in fruits, vegetables, and proteins can lead to physical and mental health problems.

What do food deserts look like?

People living in food deserts may have limited access to supermarkets and other food retailers offering healthful and affordable foods. Even when convenience stores and small grocers stock healthful foods, they are often too expensive for people with a low income to afford.

What is it like to live in a food desert?

The USDA identified the area as a food desert—meaning the community lacks grocery stores and farmers markets within a convenient distance. Food deserts are heavy on convenience stores that sell mostly processed foods high in calories and low in nutrients.

What really happens when a grocery store opens in a food desert?

So when a supermarket opens in a food desert, people don't suddenly go from shopping at an unhealthy convenience store to shopping at the new healthy supermarket. What happens is, people go from shopping at a far-away supermarket to a new supermarket nearby that offers the same types of groceries.

What is another word for food desert?

There's a new word on the street these days: food apartheid. Many argue it's more accurate to discuss areas lacking in fresh produce, grocery stores, and affordable healthy food options as such, rather than as food deserts.

Is food desert an outdated term?

The term “food desert” emerged in the 1970s and 80s, but in the past decade has really caught on, and is now a common concept in economic and public health fields.