Food Deserts in America

In a 2009 report conducted by the USDA, more than 23.5 million Americans were
living a mile or more away from a supermarket and had very limited access to a vehicle or
public transportation. (Blumenthal, par 1) A lack of transportation is one of the several causes
that contribute to the creation of food deserts in America. Food deserts are defined by the
USDA as, urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy,
and affordable food. (USDA, par 1) Since the 1990s, food deserts have been growing in
size and number across America. In this article, we will be addressing personal
testimonies of food deserts and their effect on individuals. We will then be discussing the
health issues that correlate with food deserts as well as how important communication is
in bringing food deserts into the public sphere of communication. By using social media,
non-verbal advertisements, and having environmental groups find new ways to
communicate the developing health related problems that food deserts have created, it
will help Americans see the need to take action and find a solution. In the final section we
will be highlighting how government, businesses and nonprofit organizations can help
revitalize these food deserts and bring healthy foods to those who need it.
The Individual Perspective on Food Deserts
The people of America are hungry. Living in a desert our relatives, friends, the silent
many, are stripped of the nourishing, refreshing healthy food and slowly they are falling into
a cycle of bad eating habits. The people affected by these food deserts are victims of being
overlooked. They are not seen as worthy of caring for by the grocers and markets. Clint
Smith illustrates Food deserts and the power they hold in his poem Place Matters.
As a child,
my father would tell me stories
of ancient Egyptian warriors
travelling for endless days and nights
across infinite desert planes
showing signs of endurance and bravery
I could only dream of emulating.
Individuals currently living in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, New York, are
all traversing food deserts. Our fellow human beings are being forced to become warriors for
a cause. They are hungry for not only healthy food but also a society that cares enough to
remedy this terrible situation. Will Allen is one of these warriors. After his professional
basketball career, he decided to focus his efforts on revitalizing his community of
Milwaukee. Allen poured all he had into a simple food stand Wills Roadside. The issue
may seem simple enough but change is hard. Some members of the food desert communities
have been able to step up and become a leader for their cause when big corporations simply
turn the other cheek.
He would tell me that upon their return home,
these warriors would be welcomed with a feast
worthy of their bravery on the battlefield.

Years later as a teacher in Greater Washington D.C.

I too find myself traversing a desert -though not the one I envisioned.
Food deserts are defined by the American Nutrition Association as parts of the
country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in
impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers markets, and
healthy food providers. (Gallagher). Food deserts are found in all parts of America, the two
most common places to find food deserts are rural, and urban areas. Due to the low profit
margins, companies often overlook these areas which are desperate for simply, a good
healthy meal. This is understandable if the businesses want to view people as a means of
profit as opposed to people trying to make a healthy, clean living. Is booming business all we
care about?
A food desert
is as a poor urban area
where residents cannot afford or are not given access
to healthy food and grocery stores.
Food deserts were first defined and began to receive attention in America in the late
1990s. For the last fifteen years people have been consciously making an effort to help those
trapped in food deserts. Will Allen saw the severity of food deserts and chose to do
something about it. After his basketball career he chose to use his life helping others. He built
a greenhouse, small food stand and would bring his fresh produce to Milwaukee and help as
much as he could. It was not always easy as he illustrated via a parable in his book The Good
Food Revolution, The sparrow is lying on its back with its feet sticking upward. The man
asks the sparrow what it is doing. I heard that the sky is falling, the bird replies, and I
want to hold it up. The man laughs at the bird. You believe that you can hold up the whole
sky? No, the bird says. But one does what one can. (Allen 32). If individuals can make
a change in a small area, just think of what a large business could do to help those in need.
Everyday at 2:45,
I watch my students
hop onto this leaking submarine of a school bus.
Every block bringing them deeper
into an ocean where the only fish they find are fried,
where fruits and vegetables just can't be found
because there are no grocery stores here.
Just liquor stores and Popeye's.
Dunkin Donuts and 7/11's.
Children,
born into a neighborhood
that feels more pollution than solution.
The journal of Environmental Health perspectives describes the means by
which food deserts sprawled over our urban areas as follows, Privatized mobility allowed
wealthier people to move outward from city centers toward the suburbs, and with them went
many of the supermarkets that used to pervade urban areas. (116). Like sheep migrating to

greener pastures, so the grocers have followed their shepherds, leaving a barren land of poor
food choices behind them.

It is then I realize,
I am not too far from the deserts
I once dreamed of.
Excerpt from Place Matters Clint Smith
-

The following graphic indicates the location, intensity and specific influences
food deserts have on individuals across the country. The maps may seem a bit overwhelmed
by the amount of filled in area, they are. If we dont address the critical issue of food deserts
soon, America may become the Sahara of unhealthy living. We will address two steps toward
a positive change, the power of communication, and the impact of business on food deserts.

Figure 1 Food Deserts: Range and Symptoms

The Need for Communication

Food deserts are starting to be seen as an epidemic, and the fact that food deserts are
becoming an epidemic should be enough to make the people of America concerned. But
concerned is not sufficient, the people of America should begin to take action in the steps of
finding solutions to fix this enlarging problem of food deserts. America needs to start making
more progress in the direction of dealing with food deserts, especially due to the fact that the
National Center for Health Statistics show that over 66 percent of all U.S adults are
considered obese or overweight, therefore they all are at a higher risk of undesirable health
conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney failure, hypertension, and cancer
(Schaft, Jensen, Hinrichs, 154).
Most people do not realize the effects food deserts have on people when it comes to
health issues. The clearest way to get people to see the damaging and rising problems of
personal health in the urban areas with food deserts is to start communicating. The use of

communicating through advertisements, social media, marketing, mouth to mouth, and many
more forms of communication are some of the ways to help fix this problem, but it is also a
portion of the reason that diabetes, obesity, and other health related issues are becoming more
advanced and a higher priority to find a solution.
The use of different forms of communication is a key form of resolving the epidemic
of food deserts causing many different health issues. The underlying need for the
consumption of food and water for humans is never going to stop because it is a necessary
part of human life, but it doesnt mean the people of America have to consume all the food
that is being produced.
Food politics is the challenge of understanding the need for food, yet being able to
identify what is right and wrong to eat, and the way of communicating about it is what some
call. Food politics are all about environmental awareness and knowing what is considered
safe food (Opel, Jose & Wilk, 251). According to an article titled, Food, Culture and the
Environment: Communicating about what we eat, which discusses different forms of groups
communicating about food politics, the first analytical process of understanding new kinds of
active global food groups is answering the question, where did my food come from? (252).
Different groups and people that are involved with the concern of where the food
Americans are consuming being developed processed, a healthy business, etc. One of the
environmental movements being taken place right now is the global justice movement, which
has been working for many years to attempt to reach out and encourage consumers to ponder
about their different food item purchases.
Taking a more dramatic stance seems to be a trend in order to make Americans think
differently about food by stating that vegetarianism is what Americans should begin taking
part in, and that Plant-based only diets provide a significant positive environmental impacts
(Opel, Johnston, &Wilk, 253). Laura Lindenfeld was a more reasonable advocate within food
politics by having a more sensible idea for changing food culture in America. She finds it to
be inevitable that America will stop watching television or stop using different types of social
media to communicate, so why not explore the possibilities of advancing social change for
the food environment within social media and Television (Opel, Johnston, &Wilk, 254).
Could the article, Food, Culture and the Environment: Communicating about what
we eat, really have been trying to say that people dont look at what they are buying in the
stores because they know that the cheapest foods are the worst for them, but they have no
other choice living inside a food desert with low income? It does indeed play a role in their
decision making because with less money, there are fewer options. A study done by a group
in Pennsylvania came up with data that concluded families in food deserts had $5,141 less
dollars than families in non-food desert school districts (Schaft, Jensen, & Hinrichs, 164).
Different school district zones in Pennsylvania were compared side by side,
evaluating the different grocery stores and their employees. The data noted that there are 67
counties, which contains 501 school districts in them, and for each grocery store, based on
the population in the school districts, they counted the number of employees (Schaft, Jensen,
& Hinrichs, 161). They concluded that for every grocery store with 50 or more employees,
there is a prevention of inventory that are unlikely to be carried with a variety of healthier
food (Schaft, Jensen, & Hinrichs, 162). But when there are fewer than 20 employees, there

tends to be healthier food due to fewer wages for employees and more money on inventory,
there is a reduced number in food deserts (Schaft, Jensen, & Hinrichs, 162).
Another immense issue that needs to be communicated about within different
environmental and health groups dealing with food deserts is the distance to the area where
Americans can purchase food and the prices of the foods trying to be purchased. Another
study conducted interviews of 1,372 households in two low-income African American
neighborhoods without a supermarket, that concluded that distance to the store and the prices
of the food were positively associated with obesity (Ghosh-Dastidar et. Al., 590).
Indication of non-verbal forms of communication, such as different poster
advertisements, larger letters to draw consumers, etc. were being put to use in the food stores
involved in the study of the 1,372 households as well. They noted that different displays of
junk food dominated the view of the main entrance (67% which were low-price items), and
that on average, low-price stores only had 7.7 displays to promote healthy foods while highprice store had 20.2 displays (Ghosh-Dastidar et. Al., 592).
One of the main issues within these food deserts is that there is the wrong type of
promotion or forms of communication about what people should be eating, especially when
they are considered low-income to begin with. Food deserts tend to involve more families
who have a lower income, which then causes these low-income families to buy the cheaper
food, which happens to be processed food companies that advertise much more than healthier
food companies.
The dilemma of unhealthy promotion of food is what groups and movements such as
the global justice movement and the Coalition of Immokalee Farm Workers, who try to
promote the awareness of what is being done in the process of foods being made and how it
is more unhealthy than most people in America realize. These groups want to help people
realize that there is a better and much more healthy way of eating that wont cause health
issues such as diabetes and obesity. Healthy People 2020 is an organization that is especially
trying to do what it takes to get their word and information out about the different health
problems arising in America.
Healthy People 2020 are trying to change from the historically favored way of
communicating, face-to-face, and trying to incorporate more use of technology and the
internet in order to get the word out to the public about health issues going on in America.
The Healthy People 2020s current proposition is to change the previous efforts of trying to
implement better disease prevention and health promotion by getting involved with the
newest and most beneficial form of communication, and that is using an online space that
contributes more to todays use of technology. Healthy People 2020 are making a site that is
more user-focused and can be a one-stop-shop for public health, to learn about plans and
objectives, and to implement strategies for health awareness (Manderscheid, & Wukitsch, 8).
The members inside of the Healthy People 2020 group realize that emerging evidence
shows by advancing the role that physical and social determinants, health rises and disease
falls (Manderscheid, & Wukitsch, 9). Bothersome statistics show that more than 8% of
Americans have diabetes, and in rural counties such as Birmingham, Alabama, just about
20% of people have diabetes, which goes to show that there is a need now more than ever for
the use of communication to try to help not only cure or treat food deserts, but also prevent

them from happening (DeNoon, 1). Currently, there is 96% of health care dollars spent on
disease care, which leaves only 4% on prevention/promotion to stop these health problems
from erupting in the first place (Manderscheid, & Wukitsch, 9).
Healthy People 2020 wants to use the best form of communication that they feel the
generation of technology will most benefit from, which is the internet and social media sites
such as Twitter and Facebook to reach their audience. Healthy People 2020 created a website
that uses many unique features that other groups or organizations havent used in practice yet.
One of the many interesting things about their website is that it actually is giving you
information about the latest health issues around America, but it can also give their reader a
detailed data chart and display different types of information. As shown below on Ex. 1.1,
their reader can personally chose what kind of information and what kind of research or
studies they want to know about. For instance, if a reader wanted to learn about different
information regarding diabetes, they would select the topic from the topic bar, then they
would follow that by checking what area of the different population groups they would like it
to be involved with.
Since this report is interested in the different kinds of health problems that arise due
to food deserts, such as diabetes, this report has selected race/ethnicity, family income, and
the different age groups involved, which then opens up another document displaying all sorts
of different information and charts having to deal with this issue. The data will display the
overview of the research, the objectives, and even display a graph with the data used. The
information provided on Healthy People 2020s website is one of the simplest ways to
communicate with a broad and exceptionally large audience, and it gives information that
many readers would have a hard time trying to find elsewhere; such as that on average,
African American Adults are 1.7 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of
the same age (Healthy People 2020), which may be due to the fact that more African
Americans live in urban areas where food deserts are more likely to be found.

Figure 1

Data Search Display

Source: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data-search/

Healthy People 2020 were most concerned with the results of attempting to created a
more technology based form of communication since it has rarely been used in this way
before. They found that through using more mobile apps so that Americans can use on their
mobile phones or tablets, lead Americans to more information on their website, which was
seen as a successful trial run. Both on Healthy People 2020s Twitter and LinkedIn apps, they
gained more than 127,000 followers combined (Manderscheid, & Wukitsch, 13). Therefore
they believe that marketing and advertising through different forms of social media, internet
websites, and mobile apps is the best form of useful communication to help prevent and cure
different health problems and therefore it would help with food deserts as well. But
Marketing and Advertising could also be seen as a bad thing as well.
Marketing and advertising are two of the leading causes of children becoming obese
or overweight. There are many different ways that marketing and advertising within fast food
and different food companies can affect childrens minds about their use of their money to
buy their products. It doesnt help either that according to Sandra L. Calvert, the amount of
money being spent by kids from the age four to twelve years of age in 2002 within the United
States spent $30 billion dollars (207).
With the increasing amount of money being spent by kids between the ages of four to
twelve, it lets marketing and advertising companies of food products be even more powerful
within the rise of health problems inside food deserts. When there isnt any fresh or healthy
food close enough to these children, but they see a commercial on TV of Ronald McDonald
holding a Happy Meal doing some sort of physical activity, it makes those children think that
it isnt bad to eat that kind of food. Therefore they will spend that money they have on this
junk food, instead of trying to find a different area other than their urban area that would
carry fresh or healthy foods.
Marketers are starting to associate products and activities they want to sell with
entertaining characters in order to increase interest, which is known as Branded characters
and premiums in the marketing industries (Calvert, 207). This is only one of the many
tactics that these companies use to influence the minds of the young. Some of the other
different strategies that Television and Internet marketing offices use go as followed;
Repetition of the message, animation, product placement, viral marketing, and video game
releases (Calvert, 208). Video games have been one of the larger issues in creating health
problems for children recently due to the problem with the younger generation being more
involved with playing video games and seeing their junk food sponsors, rather than doing
something active instead. Implying that this is actually a form of communication that is
causing more problems within the dilemma of food deserts than it is actually helping.
Businesses are trying to help this developing issue in America rather than harm it with their
marketing and advertising.

The Need for Businesses and Organizations

Food deserts are popping up all across America and causing serious health and
environmental risks for the people in these low-income communities, thankfully, there are
businesses that are helping to create strides in this epidemic. Big superstores such as Wal-

Mart, Supervalu, and Walgreens have agreed to expand stores into food desert areas in
America. With the help of First Lady Michelle Obama and her partnership with a Healthier
America initiative, they hope to eliminate food deserts over the next couple of years.
(Zwiebach 59)
Organizations are teaming up with big businesses such as Wal-Mart, SuperValu, and
Walgreens to bring fresh, healthy produce into food desert communities. The California
FreshWorks Fund is a $200 million public-private partnership that is supposed to kickstart
California businesses to offer more healthy food options and open locations in underserved
communities.
In the next years, Wal-Mart hopes to open anywhere between 275 and 300 stores in
food desert communities along with Supervalu who promised 250 Save-A-Lot stores in these
low-income areas. Walgreens said that they would do their part in the movement by
expanding food offerings to include more fresh fruits and vegetables along with other healthy
options at nearly 1,000 stores. Bringing in these superstores will provide options to the food
desert communities, but if the members are making poor decisions when shopping for
groceries, the stores will not be as effective.
People of low-income urban areas often have to travel farther and pay travel costs out
of pocket in order to get the best deals on the food they need. In a study done by four
researchers in 2013 (Zachary 4) the distance to a supermarket for each participant varied
from walking distance to a 10-minute drive and the families consisted of anywhere from a
single mother and her child to a two-adult household with children and even some containing
extended family.
The participants were asked to describe in depth the way they ate and cooked,
shopped for food, their ideas of healthy and unhealthy eating, how they made decisions
regarding meals and purchasing groceries, and their ideas on how supermarkets could be
changed to improve their grocery shopping experience in order to promote the purchase of
healthy foods. (Zachary 3)
The results showed low-income families food buy in bulk due to the limited access
they have to grocery stores. The first priority was being able to provide enough food for the
family; as a result, many of the participants desired level of healthy eating was simply
unattainable when they needed to last up to a month before shopping again. Fresh food spoils
quicker and can be pricier then processed items with a much longer shelf life. Buying in bulk
is an easy way to save prices as well says a mother of four who has to provide for her
grandchildren as well, Theyre making food to the point that you can barely afford it
anymore. And you got some people choosing between gas a food Some people cant afford
to eat. (Zachary 5)
Along with travel time and buying food to last for up to a month, the participants
were unsatisfied with the layout of the stores and the placement of unhealthy foods at the
entrance. One participant explained her dissatisfaction with product placement and the way it
was aimed toward unhealthy food purchases. For example, the first thing a person walks into
when entering a supermarket is the cakes and cookies, even if the produce is the first section
of the store. Before even getting the chance, the unhealthy and inexpensive food is shoved
right into the shoppers face. By bringing the grocery stores into food desert communities, the

families shopping habits would slowly improve and the higher frequency of the visits would
allow for a healthier diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables instead of bulk frozen
items.
Some families rely on help from the government to purchase groceries. The
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp
Program) provide a unique opportunity to look at how economic factors and budget can
affect food shopping behavior. SNAP provides monthly benefits to low-income families;
these benefits can be redeemed for groceries at select food retailers. At the end of the 2011
fiscal year, there were about 230,000 authorized retailers that served nearly 44.7 million
people, which provided on average $134 per person for groceries each month. (Andrews 151)
The SNAP benefits do have certain restrictions that participants must follow, making
shopping even more of a challenge. Currently, SNAP participants can use their benefits to
buy any food or food product for human consumption, or seeds and plants for use in home
gardens to produce food. They cannot, however, use them to buy hot foods that are ready to
eat, food items at a restaurant or any store that is to be eaten in the store, vitamins or
medicines, pet foods, alcohol, or tobacco. According to a study conducted by Margaret
Andrews, Rhea Bhatta, and Michele Ver Ploeg; SNAP benefit increases are associated with a
greater percentage of redemptions at superstores. However, evidence from a 1996-1997
National Food Stamp Participant Survey (NFSPS) showed that SNAP benefits were most
commonly redeemed at supermarkets and superstores that had the lowest prices, although the
participants are not always shopping at the closest store.
The time travelled and the travel costs are pulled out of the shoppers pocket, limiting
the food budget even more, people spend more time traveling to the stores that offer the
lower prices in food desert communities. In 2009 the USDA estimated that the time a person
from a low-income area spent on average 19.5 minutes one-way travelling to a supermarket
or large grocery store. The average in the United States is 15.0 minutes. (Andrews 167)
Andrews, Bhatta, and Ver Ploegs research indicated that increases in SNAP maximum
benefits positively impact the redemptions at superstores.
By adding a raise that is under $100 to the SNAP benefit program, each family that
depends on this program will be affected. The $80 benefit would be aimed mainly at food
deserts and could possibly be more cost efficient than supporting the development and
construction of 7.5 stores. (Andrews 167) With possible changes in SNAP benefits and the
many businesses and organizations that are working toward eliminating food deserts and
making healthy food choices an option for every American citizen, there is hope for the
future.
First Lady Michelle Obama has set up the Lets Move campaign, which aims to
reduce childhood obesity in America, specifically in low-income urban areas. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is developing sources of healthy food in food desert
neighborhoods as part of the initiative under the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. This program that is funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury is a federal
effort that builds on other state and local efforts already in existence to create and develop
grocery-shopping options in low-income city areas. (Andrews 167)

Programs and organizations are not limited to the government; Fresh Producers is a
non-profit school-based program that provides high school students in low-income
communities with an entrepreneurial experience. The program empowers the students to
become the source of convenient and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in their
communities. Allowing these students to gain experience running their own business and
function as co-owners of the program, managing different necessary functions such as
distributing the products, marketing, and recording purchasing sales. For these children in
low-income communities, Fresh Producers is providing hands on type of learning experience
that many of these kids would not get otherwise. The program was first formed in 2007 at a
charter high school in the Sacramento area to teach upper classmen how to gain the skills and
experience to improve the overall health of their community. Since its start, Fresh Producers
has delivered over 125,000 servings of fresh produce to a large part of the Sacramento area.
Food deserts may be consuming America but corporate companies, the government,
and even school-based programs are fighting back. Michelle Obama has made it her mission
to make our country a healthier place to live and provide the next generation with enough
fresh and healthy foods so they can grow healthy and strong. The California FreshWorks
Fund is bringing in businesses to the food desert communities while Fresh Producers is
teaching the younger generations how to fix this problem and giving them valuable hands on
experience in the business field.

Not only do supercenters and supermarkets need to come into these low-income
communities, the residents in these areas need to be thought about as well. They have food
shopped in a way that allows them to provide for their families for sometimes up to a month,
forcing them to sacrifice the healthy and more expensive items that just do not meet the needs
they have. The SNAP program also needs to be taken into account, the limitations on where
and what the participants can use the benefits can cost more out of pocket. SNAP participants
and families in food deserts search for the best deal, unfortunately that lowest price is the
furthest option for them so they end up spending even more money out of pocket on travel
costs alone. Taking the steps to inform the public about this epidemic will play a large part in
eliminating food deserts, creating a healthier future for generations to come.

Figure Food Hub Cycle

Food deserts have been a major contributor to unhealthy diets and diseases in urban and rural
areas. These deserts have also contributed to creating stigmas surrounding these areas and the
people that are forced to live in these conditions. Despite these difficult living situations
individuals have found ways to improve the world around them. Will Allen is a prime
example of a role model who has made a positive impact in his community. Will Allen gives
a rallying cry at the end of his book The Good Food Revolution, ...if we can take control of
the food environment in our inner-city communities - and if we can knit together the broken
fabric between local farmers and our cities, and repair the damaged urban land and grow
fresh soil and food there - it can provide a chance for people to have lives with greater
dignity. If Food Deserts can be brought into the larger circle of communication we can begin
mending these barren deserts.
If we can find more opportunities to communicate the issues surrounding health
issues in these impoverished areas, the conversation can shift from fixing the current

problems to preventing the issues in the first place. Businesses such as Wal-Mart, SuperValu,
and Walgreens are moving into these urban areas to provide fresh, healthy food and easier
accessibility to food desert communities. Government funded projects such as SNAP help
these individuals to provide for their families in ways they would not be able to otherwise.
America needs to make people aware of this growing issue. Every single person is affected
by food deserts in this country and now is the time to fight back.