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food deserts work

UK food deserts

British food deserts can be broadly classified into twelve geographical types, based on the interaction of socioeconomic factors of physical access to shops, financial access (affordability of) healthy food, and attitudes towards consumption of healthy food, the desire to consume it rather than fast / convenience food, possession of cooking skills, that is, psychological access. These twelve neighbourhood types are, 1) Inner city executive flat areas (too fast lifestyle to cook healthily), 2) inner city ethnic minority areas (cost of food vs low wages), 3) inner city deprived areas severed by main roads from retail areas (poor physical access), 4) declining suburban areas (shops closing, poor physical access to supermarkets), 5) planned local authority housing areas (low income, and shops often lack fresh produce), 6) student residence areas (preference for fast food outlets, little demand for fresh produce), 7) Wealthy suburban areas, most shop by car, but some less mobile pensioners with no car. Areas 8 - 12 are rural food deserts. 8) is small market town centres losing trade to out-of-town supermarkets, leaving the car-less without easy access, 9) market town suburbs, poor bus service to centre perhaps 1 or 2 miles (2 - 3 kilometres) distant, 10), smaller rural towns, lack full range of fresh produce, 11) remoter villages, no shop, and under-served by mobile shops, 12) dispersed settlements, no focal point for shop

Furey et al. describes food desert creation as arising where “high competition from large chain supermarkets has created a void”.

food desert definitions

Some measures of food desertification factor in the type and quality of foods available for purchase and the ability or inability of residents to purchase them. Others focus on a community's proximity to supermarkets or other sources of low-cost wide-variety foods.

Research studies have established varying empirical criteria for identifying food deserts; one study counted food deserts as "urban areas with 10 or fewer (grocery) stores and no stores with more than 20 employees". In Canada, food desert researchers evaluates the average cost of the "Ontario Nutritious Food Basket", 66 items from each four food groups, to evaluate the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods. The existence of multiple definitions which can even change by country and the uncertainty over the exact measures by which a food desert can be recognized have fueled controversy over the existence of food deserts.

US Food Deserts

Maps, showing the distribution of food deserts in the United States can be found in Morton and Blanchard's 2007 article.

Despite differences in terminology, most research in the United States supports the hypothesis that on the neighborhood level, there are disparities in the retail food environment.

In the interest of profitability, larger supermarkets have followed this trend and are most prevalent in these white suburban neighborhoods.

According to a report to Congress prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, assessing the extent of limited access to affordable, nutritious food, approximately 2.4 million households in the United States are more than a mile from a supermarket and lack access to a vehicle.

remediation

The USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan aims to standardize the methods of assessment for the availability and price of foods in stores.

To create a healthy relationship with food, researchers recommend creating a direct connection between fresh produce and consumer. Examples of this include urban farm programs and incorporating healthful foods in schools.

In addition, junk food marketing is much more common than healthy food advertisements, and if consumers resist junk foods influence obesity levels could lower drastically.