Food Deserts Essay

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Desert food neighborhoods deprive residents of proper nutrition and increase health risks. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (n.d.) defines food deserts “as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food” (para, 1). An approximated 2.3 million people live in rural food deserts where low-income and low-access community census tracts with a greater than 10-mile proximity to a supermarket exist (USDA, n.d.). In urban areas, a food desert is determined by a greater than 1-mile proximity to a supermarket (USDA, n.d.). In many cases, corner liquor stores with limited food selections with higher cost goods ranging between 3 to 37 cents more are counted as a supermarket based on the …show more content…

Lewis et al (2003) have discussed the need to form coalitions to make macro and micro policy changes within the low-income and low-access neighborhoods. While the USDA offers funding in the form of grants to incentive food mart accessibility and encourages applicants to form partnerships for program leverage. First Lady Michelle Obama started the Let’s Move Campaign. These are a couple of policies utilized to address the nutrition insecure communities. The following narrative proposes additional food deserts public policy components to form a recommended …show more content…

fruits and vegetables) vendors. The idea of green food on wheels was designed to bring healthy fruits and vegetables to food desert communities in rural low-income census tracts lacking proximal access to food outlets offering healthy alternatives. Incidentally, bringing healthier food choices to a community, residents have access to better quality food at reasonable prices, which consequently decreases chronic health conditions (e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart

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