{{Short description|Area with low access to nutritious food}} {{Globalize|date=February 2025|2=US}} {{distinguish|Dessert}} [[File:Burlingame_kansas_city_hall.jpg|thumb|Burlingame, Kansas (pictured) is an example of a food desert. All three preexisting grocery stores in Burlingame closed, and the closest grocery store is over {{cvt|25|mi|km|0|order=flip}} away in Topeka, Kansas.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Silva|first=Jill Wendholt|date=November 24, 2010|title=Food deserts: Closed grocery stores leave a void in rural areas|url=https://www.kansascity.com/living/food-drink/article298806/Food-deserts-Closed-grocery-stores-leave-a-void-in-rural-areas.html|access-date=January 1, 2025|work=The Kansas City Star}}</ref>]] {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}}
A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Story|first1=Mary|last2=Kaphingst|first2=Karen M.|last3=Robinson-O'Brien|first3=Ramona|last4=Glanz|first4=Karen|date=2008|title=Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches|journal=Annual Review of Public Health|volume=29|pages=253–272|doi=10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090926|issn=0163-7525|pmid=18031223|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, 110th Cong, 2nd Sess, HR 6124, Title VII|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110hr6124eh/pdf/BILLS-110hr6124eh.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623061814/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110hr6124eh/pdf/BILLS-110hr6124eh.pdf|archive-date=June 23, 2018|access-date=November 17, 2017}}</ref> Food deserts are commonly paired with food swamps, which lack grocery stores and instead have convenience stores or fast food. In contrast, an area with greater access to grocers or farmers' markets with fresh foods may be called a food oasis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Food/AccesstoHealthyFoods/FoodOasis|title=Food Oasis :: Washington State Department of Health|access-date=February 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421212846/https://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Food/AccesstoHealthyFoods/FoodOasis|archive-date=April 21, 2019}}</ref> Food deserts are commonly associated with food insecurity and are linked to worsening health outcome including an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<ref>{{Cite web |last=IFM Medical and Editorial Content Team|title=How Is Food Access Related to Chronic Disease? {{!}} The Institute for Functional Medicine|url=https://www.ifm.org/articles/food-insecurity-chronic-disease|access-date=2026-04-30|website=www.ifm.org|language=en}}</ref>
In 2025, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that an estimated 12.8% of the US population were living in low-income and low-access census tracts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Food Access Research Atlas - State-Level Estimates of Low Income and Low Access Populations |date=September 17, 2025 |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture; Economic Research Service |url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/state-level-estimates-of-low-income-and-low-access-populations |access-date=2026-02-10}}</ref> Of this number, 22 million people live in "food deserts", which they define as low-income census tracts that are more than {{convert|1|mi|km|sp=us|abbr=off}} from a supermarket in urban or suburban areas and more than {{convert|10|mi|km|0|sp=us|abbr=off}} from a supermarket in rural areas.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Diaz de Villegas |first1=Carolina |last2=Rodriguez |first2=Kiara |date=n.d. |title=Medley Food Desert Project |publisher=Florida International University Department of Biological Sciences |url=https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/floridainternationaluniversitymedleyfooddesertproject.pdf |access-date= |via=EPA.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Food Access Research Atlas - Documentation {{!}} Economic Research Service |url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=www.ers.usda.gov}}</ref> However, food deserts are not just a complication that arises because of distance to grocery stores; other structural barriers, such as food accessibility, affordability, transportation struggles, and socio-economic constraints, also play a role in food insecurity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Food Access as a Structural Barrier to Health and Wellbeing {{!}} Healers and Patients in North Carolina |url=https://healersandpatients.web.unc.edu/2024/04/food-access-as-a-structural-barrier-to-health-and-wellbeing/ |access-date=2026-04-30 |website=healersandpatients.web.unc.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>
Food deserts tend to be inhabited by low-income residents with inadequate access to transportation, which makes them less attractive markets for large supermarket chains.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://sojo.net/magazine/april-2017/grocery-store-inequity |title=Grocery Store Inequity |last=Lee |first=Courtney Hall |date=February 23, 2017 |work=Sojourners |access-date=November 17, 2017 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623032945/https://sojo.net/magazine/april-2017/grocery-store-inequity |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Phillips 2011">{{Cite magazine |last1=Phillips |first1=Anna Lena |year=2011 |title=Making Better Maps of Food Deserts: Neighborhoods with little or no access to healthful food can be located and studied using GIS mapping |magazine=American Scientist |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=209–210 |doi=10.1511/2011.90.209 |doi-access=free |jstor=23019314 |url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/making-better-maps-of-food-deserts}}</ref> These areas lack suppliers of fresh foods, such as meats, fruits, and vegetables. Instead, available foods are likely to be processed and high in sugar and fats, which are known contributors to obesity in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://notes.nap.edu/2011/01/25/living-in-a-food-desert-how-lack-of-access-to-healthy-foods-can-affect-public-health/ |title=Living in a Food Desert: How Lack of Access to Healthy Foods Can Affect Public Health {{!}} Notes From NAP |website=notes.nap.edu |access-date=November 17, 2017 |date=January 25, 2011 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623033202/https://notes.nap.edu/2011/01/25/living-in-a-food-desert-how-lack-of-access-to-healthy-foods-can-affect-public-health/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Children that grow up in food deserts are at a greater risk of developing obesity due to the reliance on calorie-dense but nutrient-poor foods. Research has found a great link between childhood obesity rates and the presence of food deserts, specifically in urban areas with limited options for supermarkets.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Key |first1=Johanna |last2=Burnett |first2=Donna |last3=Babu |first3=Jeganathan Ramesh |last4=Geetha |first4=Thangiah |date=2023-01-03 |title=The Effects of Food Environment on Obesity in Children: A Systematic Review |journal=Children (Basel, Switzerland) |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=98 |doi=10.3390/children10010098 |doi-access=free |issn=2227-9067 |pmc=9857183 |pmid=36670647}}</ref>
A related concept is the phenomenon of a food swamp, a recently coined term by researchers who defined it as an area with a disproportionate number of fast food restaurants (and fast food advertising) in comparison to the number of supermarkets in that area.<ref name="Cooksey-Stowers 2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Cooksey-Stowers |first1=Kristen |last2=Schwartz |first2=Marlene |last3=Brownell |first3=Kelly |date= 2017 |title=Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=14 |issue=11 |page=1366 |doi=10.3390/ijerph14111366 |issn=1660-4601 |doi-access=free |pmid=29135909 |pmc=5708005 |bibcode=2017IJERP..14.1366C}}</ref> A study of the North Hartford Promise Zone, found that from both an objective measure of how much a given area was a food swamp, as well a subjective self-reports from residents of low-income and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, a higher score on their "food swamp index" was positively associated with increased shopping frequency at unhealthy food places and simultaneously positively associated with perceived access to unhealthy food. Additionally, higher food swamp scores were associated with increased public transit use. Food swamps highlight how historical discriminatory zoning practices and systematic disinvestment in communities of color have manifested in present day conversations surrounding food access, which are exacerbated by the lack of adequate transportation for people reliant on public transit.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Abdul Razak |first1=Summaya |last2=Atoloye |first2=Abiodun T. |last3=Antrum |first3=Curtis Jalen |last4=Niroula |first4=Kritee |last5=Bannor |first5=Richard |last6=Ray |first6=Snehaa |last7=Coman |first7=Emil |last8=Huedo-Medina |first8=Tania |last9=Duffy |first9=Valerie B. |last10=Cooksey Stowers |first10=Kristen |date=2025-09-25 |title=Food Swamps and Transportation Access: Intersecting Structural Determinants of Food Shopping and Access in Marginalized Urban Communities |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=22 |issue=10 |pages=1481 |doi=10.3390/ijerph22101481 |doi-access=free |issn=1660-4601 |pmc=12563320 |pmid=41154885}}</ref> The single supermarket in a low-income area does not, according to researchers Rose and colleagues, necessitate availability nor does it decrease obesity rates and health risks.<ref name="Cooksey-Stowers 2017" /> Recent studies have found that food swamps may fundamentally contribute to obesity-related health conditions more than food deserts alone, as the high concentration of unhealthy food options impacts dietary behaviors and long-term health risks, including higher mortality from obesity-related cancers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bevel |first1=Malcolm Seth |last2=Tsai |first2=Meng-Han |last3=Parham |first3=April |last4=Andrzejak |first4=Sydney Elizabeth |last5=Jones |first5=Samantha |last6=Moore |first6=Justin Xavier |date=2023 |title=Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US |journal=JAMA Oncology |language=en |volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=909–916 |doi=10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634 |doi-access=free |issn=2374-2437 |pmc=10160992 |pmid=37140933}}</ref>
Research has shown that food deserts disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including low income communities, BIPOC, and people with chronic diseases like diabetes, who may struggle with food insecurity and poor glycemic control due to the little access to fresh, health food choices.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Odoms-Young |first1=Angela |last2=Bruce |first2=Marino A. |date=2018 |title=Examining the Impact of Structural Racism on Food Insecurity: Implications for Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities |journal=Family & Community Health |volume=41 Suppl 2 Suppl, Food Insecurity and Obesity |issue=Suppl 2 FOOD INSECURITY AND OBESITY |pages=S3–S6 |doi=10.1097/FCH.0000000000000183 |issn=1550-5057 |pmc=5823283 |pmid=29461310}}</ref>
== History == By 1967, the term "desert" was ascribed to suburban areas lacking amenities important for community development.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Shaw |first=Hillary John |date=December 2003 |title=The Ecology of Food Deserts |chapter=1.1. Origin of the term `Food Desert' |publisher=The University of Leeds School of Geography |page=11 |chapter-url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1146142.pdf |access-date=August 9, 2017 |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810092509/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1146142.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> A report by Cummins and Macintyre states that a resident of public housing in western Scotland supposedly coined the more specific phrase "food desert" in the early 1990s.<ref name="Cummins 2002"/> The phrase was first officially used in a 1995 document from a policy working group on the Low Income Project Team of the UK's Nutrition Task Force.<ref name="Cummins 2002"/><ref name="Mitchell 2024">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Stacy |title=The Great Grocery: Squeeze How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/food-deserts-robinson-patman/680765/ |work=The Atlantic |date=December 1, 2024}}</ref>
Food deserts in America and the UK have been most widely studied due to the Western origins of the concept. Initial research was narrowed to the impact of retail migration from the urban center.<ref name="Ford 2008">{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1753-4887.2008.00026.x |pmid=18366535 |title=Disparities in obesity prevalence due to variation in the retail food environment: Three testable hypotheses |journal=Nutrition Reviews |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=216–28 |year=2008 |last1=Ford |first1=Paula B |last2=Dzewaltowski |first2=David A |s2cid=14769196}}</ref> More recent studies explored the impact of food deserts in other geographic areas (such as rural and frontier) and among specific populations like minorities and the elderly. The studies addressed the relationships between the quality (access and availability) of retail food environments, the price of food, and obesity. Environmental factors can also contribute to people's eating behaviors. Research conducted with variations in methods draws a more complete perspective of "multilevel influences of the retail food environment on eating behaviors (and risk of obesity)."<ref name="Ford 2008" />
As a result, there has been a paradigm shift within the movement with community organizers encouraging members of affected neighborhoods to consider how inadequate food systems correlate with the intersectionality of race and class. The Planting Seeds Just Tour serves as an example, as it visited solution based projects to resist injustices with ecological wisdom and food justice that were run by women of color. The tour also highlighted economically viable alternatives to provide healthy food and created spaces in which community members could participate in conversations regarding sustainability.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Crick |editor-first=Nathan |title=The rhetoric of social movements: networks, power, and new media |year=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-34600-0 |oclc=1148871923}}</ref>
Advocates within the Food Justice movement have identified that terms like "Food Desert" undermine how the intersections of race and class largely influences minority communities' inaccessibility to fresh foods.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Christiansen |first1=Karina Hammershaimb |title=Reframing "Food Deserts": The History of Urban Supermarket Access and Its Public Policy Discourse |date=September 8, 2016 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |url=http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/40374 |access-date=October 29, 2024 |format=doctoral dissertation}}</ref> To better describe what is taking place, activists such as Karen Washington have begun to use the term "food apartheid." The activist and community organizer Karen Washington describes the term as "[looking] at the whole food system, along with race, geography, faith, and economics."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brones |first=Anna |date=May 15, 2018 |title=Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America's groceries |url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-apartheid-food-deserts-racism-inequality-america-karen-washington-interview |access-date=December 19, 2021 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>
== Definitions == Researchers employ a variety of methods to assess food deserts including directories and census data, focus groups, food store assessments, food use inventories, geographic information system (GIS), interviews, questionnaires and surveys measuring consumers' food access perceptions.<ref name="Walker 2010">{{cite journal |first1=Renee E. |last1=Walker |first2=Christopher R. |last2=Keane |first3=Jessica G. |last3=Burke |title=Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature |journal=Health & Place |date=2010 |issn=1353-8292 |pages=876–884 |volume=16 |issue=5 |doi=10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.013 |pmid=20462784 |s2cid=4637240}}</ref> Differences in the definition of a food desert vary according to the following: * The type of area, urban or rural.<ref name="Morton 2007">{{cite journal |year=2007 |title=Starved for access: life in rural America's food deserts |url=http://www.ruralsociology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Rural-Realities-1-4.pdf |journal=Rural Realities |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=1–10 |last1=Morton |first1=Lois Wright |last2=Blanchard |first2=Troy C. |access-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021015542/http://www.ruralsociology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Rural-Realities-1-4.pdf |archive-date=October 21, 2013}}</ref> * Economic barriers and affordability of accessing nutritious foods, including the cost of transportation, price of foods, and incomes of those in the area.<ref name="Cummins 2002">{{cite journal |doi=10.1136/bmj.325.7361.436 |pmid=12193363 |pmc=1123946 |title='Food deserts'—evidence and assumption in health policy making |journal=BMJ |volume=325 |issue=7361 |pages=436–8 |year=2002 |last1=Cummins |first1=S |last2=MacIntyre |first2=S}}</ref><ref name="Walker 2010" /><ref name="Reisig 2000">{{cite journal |doi=10.1177/001789690005900203 |title=Food deserts and how to tackle them: A study of one city's approach |journal=Health Education Journal |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=137–49 |year=2000 |last1=Reisig |first1=V. |last2=Hobbiss |first2=A. |citeseerx=10.1.1.1005.1078 |s2cid=73403420}}</ref> * The distance to the nearest supermarket or grocery store.<ref name="Hendrickson 2006">{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s10460-006-9002-8 |title=Fruit and vegetable access in four low-income food deserts communities in Minnesota |journal=Agriculture and Human Values |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=371–83 |year=2006 |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Deja |last2=Smith |first2=Chery |last3=Eikenberry |first3=Nicole |bibcode=2006AgrHV..23..371H |s2cid=154678652}}</ref> * number of supermarkets in the given area.<ref name="Hendrickson 2006" /> * type of foods offered, whether it be fresh or prepared.<ref name="Cummins 2002" /><ref name="Walker 2010" /> * nutritional values of the foods offered.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.06.007 |pmid=19631571 |title=A farmers' market in a food desert: Evaluating impacts on the price and availability of healthy food |journal=Health & Place |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=1158–62 |year=2009 |last1=Larsen |first1=Kristian |last2=Gilliland |first2=Jason |bibcode=2009HePla..15.1158L}}</ref>
The multitude of definitions, varying by country, has fueled controversy over the existence of food deserts.<ref name="Walker 2010" />
It should also be noted that because it is too costly to survey the types of foods and prices offered in every store, researchers use the availability of supermarkets and large grocery stores, including discount and supercenter stores, as a proxy for the availability of affordable nutritious food.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ver Ploeg |first=Michele |date=March 1, 2010 |url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2010/march/access-to-affordable-nutritious-food-is-limited-in-food-deserts |title=Access to Affordable, Nutritious Food Is Limited in 'Food Deserts' |work=Amber Waves |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture; Economic Research Service |access-date=May 23, 2018 |archive-date=July 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719110745/https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2010/march/access-to-affordable-nutritious-food-is-limited-in-food-deserts |url-status=live}}</ref>
== By country == {{Main|Food deserts by country|Food deserts in the United States}}
==Types == [[File:Boston corner shop.jpg|thumb|A convenience store in Boston. Most of the food visible is relatively imperishable: dried, processed, and tinned products.]]The term "urban food deserts" is traditionally applied to North America and Europe, but in recent years, the term has been extended to Africa as well. It has taken time for researchers to understand Africa's urban food deserts because the conventional understanding of the term must be reevaluated to fit Africa's unconventional supermarkets.<ref name="Tulane 2018">{{cite web |date=May 10, 2018 |title=Food Deserts In America (Infographic) |url=https://socialwork.tulane.edu/blog/food-deserts-in-america |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204172605/https://socialwork.tulane.edu/blog/food-deserts-in-america |archive-date=December 4, 2018 |access-date=October 31, 2018 |publisher=Tulane University; School of Social Work}}</ref>
A 2009 study stated that people tend to make food choices based on what is available in their neighborhood. Food deserts often have a high density of fast-food restaurants and corner stores that offer prepared and processed foods.<ref name="Coveney 2009">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.01.010 |pmid=18396090 |title=Effects of mobility and location on food access |journal=Health & Place |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=45–55 |year=2009 |last1=Coveney |first1=John |last2=O'Dwyer |first2=Lisel A |bibcode=2009HePla..15...45C}}</ref> A 2018 Tulane University study stated that there are three categories for food deserts: ability-related, assets-related, and attitude-related.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> Ability-related food deserts are "anything that physically prevents access to food which a consumer otherwise has the financial resources to purchase and the mental desire to buy."<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> An asset-related food desert involves the absence of financial assets, which prevents consumption of desirable food that is otherwise available.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> Attitude-related food deserts are any state of mind that prevents consumers from accessing the foods they can otherwise physically bring into their home and have the necessary assets to procure.<ref name="Tulane 2018" />
==Causes==
Food deserts have primarily been studied in Western countries due to limitations around applying the retail access definition to different communities with varying cultures, food sourcing strategies, and environments around the world.<ref name="Davies 2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=Gemma |last2=Frausin |first2=Gina |last3=Parry |first3=Luke |date=2017 |title=Are There Food Deserts in Rainforest Cities? |journal=Annals of the American Association of Geographers |volume=107 |issue=4 |pages=794–811 |doi=10.1080/24694452.2016.1271307 |issn=2469-4452 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2017AAAG..107..794D}}</ref>
A 2009 USDA study observed that low access to supermarkets in the U.S. is affected by various characteristics of neighborhoods and the geography of a community.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009">{{citation |mode=cs1 |type=report |last1=Ver Ploeg |first1=Michele |last2=Breneman |first2=Vince |last3=Farrigan |first3=Tracey |last4=Hamrick |first4=Karen |last5=Hopkins |first5=David |last6=Kaufman |first6=Phillip |last7=Lin |first7=Biing-Hwan |last8=Nord |first8=Mark |last9=Smith |first9=Travis A. |last10=Williams |first10=Ryan |last11=Kinnison |first11=Kelly |last12=Olander |first12=Carol |last13=Singh |first13=Anita |last14=Tuckermanty |first14=Elizabeth |date=June 2009 |title=Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences: Report to Congress |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture; Economic Research Service |id=Administrative Publication Number 036 |doi=10.22004/AG.ECON.292130 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The study cited income gaps, segregation by race, socioeconomic status, transport availability and infrastructure, rurality, segregation by income, and percentages of vacant homes in a community as variable factors that determined the degree of communities' access to supermarkets.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009"/>
===Demographic changes and redlining=== In the United States redlining is seen as a discriminatory pattern that disproportionately impacts low-income African Americans and people of color. Redlining began in the 1930s when the Home Owner Loan Corporation (HOLC) developed a grading system that showed the security levels of neighborhoods through maps. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shaker|first1=Yasamin|last2=Grineski|first2=Sara E.|last3=Collins|first3=Timothy W.|last4=Flores|first4=Aaron B.|date=2023|title=Redlining, racism and food access in US urban cores|journal=Agriculture and Human Values|volume=40|issue=1|pages=101–112|doi=10.1007/s10460-022-10340-3|issn=0889-048X|pmc=9303837|pmid=35891801}}</ref> Causing racial segregation in neighborhood that we continue to impact communities of color .<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shaker|first1=Yasamin|last2=Grineski|first2=Sara E.|last3=Collins|first3=Timothy W.|last4=Flores|first4=Aaron B.|date=2023|title=Redlining, racism and food access in US urban cores|journal=Agriculture and Human Values|volume=40|issue=1|pages=101–112|doi=10.1007/s10460-022-10340-3|issn=0889-048X|pmc=9303837|pmid=35891801}}</ref> This pattern of racial segregation is associated with present day food deserts where BIPOC often experience a limited access of affordable and nutritious food. Historical redlining is associated with present day food deserts, as formerly redlined neighborhoods lack access to affordable and nutritious food. Reflecting the long-term impact of redlining on neighborhoods of color reflecting how racial segregation continues to persist leading by shaping conditions such as limited access to resources and food environments that are associated with worsening health outcomes due to food insecurity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-22|title=Food deserts: Definition, effects, and solutions|url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-are-food-deserts|access-date=2026-04-30|website=www.medicalnewstoday.com|language=en}}</ref>
Supermarket redlining has been proposed as a cause of lower access to supermarkets that is characteristic of some scholarly definitions of food deserts. The concept describes how large chain supermarkets tend to relocate out of or refrain from opening stores in inner-city areas or impoverished neighborhoods due to perceived urban and economic obstacles, decreasing certain communities' access to supermarkets.<ref name="Zhang 2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Mengyao |last2=Ghosh |first2=Debarchana |date=2016 |title=Spatial Supermarket Redlining and Neighborhood Vulnerability: A Case Study of Hartford, Connecticut |journal=Transactions in GIS |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=79–100 |bibcode=2016TrGIS..20...79Z |doi=10.1111/tgis.12142 |issn=1361-1682 |pmc=4810442 |pmid=27034615}}</ref> With the gentrification of lower-income and lower-resourced areas, one study found that the gentrification of urban areas was still associated with a lack of food access. As such, the lower-resourced residents of these areas struggle to have consistent healthy food access, as grocery stores do not open in these gentrified areas at the same rate they are being gentrified, adding an additional problem to the community while simultaneously not addressing the food insecurity that already exists in lower-resourced urban areas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shaker |first1=Yasamin |last2=Grineski |first2=Sara E. |last3=Collins |first3=Timothy W. |last4=Flores |first4=Aaron B. |date=2023-03-01 |title=Redlining, racism and food access in US urban cores |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10340-3 |journal=Agriculture and Human Values |language=en |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=101–112 |doi=10.1007/s10460-022-10340-3 |issn=1572-8366 |pmc=9303837 |pmid=35891801}}</ref> Businesses' perceived urban obstacles include decreased demand compared to suburban neighborhoods, higher land, wage, and utility costs, and increased crime in urban areas.<ref name="Zhang 2016" /> Economic factors such as supply and demand that businesses take into consideration are affected by a complex web of interconnected factors (e.g. demand for fresh produce is affected by people's socioeconomic status and cultural upbringing).<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2014" />
As several studies have shown the discrepancies in the number of supermarkets in predominately black neighborhoods compared to predominately white neighborhoods, the characteristics of a neighborhood population are suggested to be motivations behind some business' reluctance to open in certain neighborhoods.<ref name="Zhang 2016" /> The decreased availability of supermarkets in certain communities increases the distance people have to travel to get food, further limiting food access for people without access to reliable transportation.<ref name="Zhang 2016" />
=== United States federal initiatives === To address the problems of food deserts, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) was established in the United States in 2010 and offers grants and loans to food hubs, small enterprises, and grocery shops in underprivileged areas.<ref name="UCSD 2023a">UCSD Library. "Healthy Food Financing Initiative: Federal Strategies for Food Access." 2023.</ref> In order to provide access to healthier food options, the HFFI has granted more than $220 million in funding as of 2023 and leveraged about $1 billion in private investment.<ref name="UCSD 2024">UCSD Library. "Evaluating Federal Food Access Programs." 2024.</ref>
There are resources such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), National School Lunch Program, and the Woman Infants & Children (WIC), funded by the U.S Department of Agriculture through the Food Nutrition and Services (FNS). <ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Food Assistance Programs {{!}} Nutrition.gov|url=https://www.nutrition.gov/topics/food-security-and-access/food-assistance-programs|access-date=2026-04-26|website=www.nutrition.gov}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Levy|first1=Lillian C|last2=Perez-Velazco|first2=Ximena|date=2026-01-01|title=Impacts of Nutrition Policy on Food Insecurity and Individual Health in the United States: A Narrative Review|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316625006996|journal=The Journal of Nutrition|volume=156|issue=1|pages=101233|doi=10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.10.043|pmid=41224197 |issn=0022-3166}}</ref> As of April 2026 there's 16 federally funded nutrition assistant programs that serve eligible individuals including low-income populations and those experiencing food insecurity. These programs aim at reducing food insecurity which is associated with communities living in food deserts.<ref name=":02" />
=== Transportation and geography === Within the United States, scholars have proposed several different causes behind the formation of food deserts. One theory behind the emergence of food deserts, defined as areas with low supermarket access, is the expansion of large chain supermarkets that displaced smaller food stores from neighborhoods.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Ver Ploeg |first1=M. |last2=Dutko |first2=P. |last3=Breneman |first3=V. |year=2014 |title=Measuring Food Access and Food Deserts for Policy Purposes |journal=Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=205–25 |doi=10.1093/aepp/ppu035 |hdl=10.1093/aepp/ppu035}}</ref> Scholars cite the greater appeal of large chain supermarkets to consumers because of the wider variety and better values of food they offer as well as longer business hours compared to smaller, independently or family-owned grocery stores, leading to decreased demand and support for smaller food stores.<ref name="Walker 2010" /> The expansion of large chain supermarkets and loss of smaller food stores can create certain areas where only people with transportation can access, creating areas of disproportionate retail access that some scholars characterize as a food desert.<ref name="Zhang 2016" /> A 2025 study from the University of California, Los Angeles found that the growth of dollar store chains caused grocery stores to exit low income markets, creating food deserts.<ref name="Caoui 2025">{{citation |mode=cs1 |type=preprint |last1=Caoui |first1=El Hadi |last2=Hollenbeck |first2=Brett |last3=Osborne |first3=Matt |title=The Impact of Dollar Store Expansion on Local Market Structure and Food Access |date=2025 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4163102 |doi-access=free |ssrn=4163102 |ssrn-access=free}}</ref>
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), community food security "concerns the underlying social, economic, and institutional factors within a community that affect the quantity and quality of available food and its affordability or price relative to the sufficiency of financial resources available to acquire it."<ref name="ruralhealthinfo.org">{{cite web |url=https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/food-and-hunger |title=Rural Hunger and Access to Healthy Food Introduction |date=n.d. |website=Rural Health Information Hub |publisher=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Health Resources and Services Administration |access-date=November 18, 2017 |archive-date=August 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824082151/https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/food-and-hunger |url-status=live}}</ref> Rural areas tend have higher food insecurity than urban areas because food choices in rural areas are often restricted, with transportation being needed to access a major supermarket or a food supply that offers a wide, healthy variety of foods. Smaller convenience stores typically do not offer as much produce.<ref name="ruralhealthinfo.org"/>
It is critical to look at car ownership in relation to the distance and number of stores in the area. A 2009 study stated that the distance from shops influences the quality of food eaten.<ref name="Coveney 2009"/> A vehicle or access to public transportation is often needed to go to a grocery store. When neither a car nor public transportation is available, diets are rarely healthy because fast food and convenience stores are easier to access and do not cost as much money or time.<ref name="Zhang 2016" /> One study found that within neighborhoods of the North Hartford Promise Zone, residents who took the bus as their primary mode of transportation had the highest rates of unhealthy food purchasing.<ref name=":0" /> Those who walk to food shops typically have poorer diets, which has been attributed to having to carry shopping bags home.<ref name="Coveney 2009"/>
The primary criterion for a food desert is its proximity to a healthy food market. When such a market is in reach for its residents, a food desert ceases to exist, but that does not mean that residents will now choose to eat healthily. A longitudinal study of food deserts in ''JAMA Internal Medicine'' shows that supermarket availability is generally unrelated to fruit and vegetable recommendations and overall diet quality.<ref name="Boone-Heinonen 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Boone-Heinonen |first1=Janne |last2=Gordon-Larsen |first2=Penny |author-link2=Penny Gordon-Larsen |last3=Kiefe |first3=Catarina I. |last4=Shikany |first4=James M. |last5=Lewis |first5=Cora E. |last6=Popkin |first6=Barry M. |date=2011 |title=Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores: Longitudinal Associations With Diet in Young to Middle-aged Adults: The CARDIA Study |journal=Archives of Internal Medicine |volume=171 |issue=13 |pages=1162–1170 |doi=10.1001/archinternmed.2011.283 |doi-access=free |pmc=3178268 |pmid=21747011}}</ref>
In a 2018 article in ''Guernica'', Karen Washington states that factors beyond physical access suggest the community should reexamine the word ''food desert'' itself. She believes "food apartheid" more accurately captures the circumstances surrounding access to affordable nutritious foods: "When we say ''food apartheid'' the real conversation can begin."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.guernicamag.com/karen-washington-its-not-a-food-desert-its-food-apartheid/ |title=Karen Washington: It's Not a Food Desert, It's Food Apartheid |last=Brones |first=Anna |date=May 7, 2018 |website=Guernica |access-date=May 25, 2018 |archive-date=July 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707081549/https://www.guernicamag.com/karen-washington-its-not-a-food-desert-its-food-apartheid/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Consumer choices === Access to food options is not the only barrier to healthier diets and improved health outcomes. Wrigley et al. collected data before and after a food desert intervention to explore factors affecting supermarket choice and perceptions regarding healthy diet in Leeds, United Kingdom. Pretests were administered prior to a new store opening and post-tests were delivered two years after the new store had opened. The results showed that nearly half of the food desert residents began shopping at the newly built store, but only modest improvements in diet were recorded.<ref name="Wrigley 2003">{{cite journal |doi=10.1068/a35150 |title=Deprivation, Diet, and Food-Retail Access: Findings from the Leeds 'Food Deserts' Study |journal=Environment and Planning A |volume=35 |pages=151–88 |year=2003 |last1=Wrigley |first1=Neil |last2=Warm |first2=Daniel |last3=Margetts |first3=Barrie |issue=1 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2003EnPlA..35..151W}}</ref>
A similar pilot study conducted by Cummins et al. focused on a community that was funded by the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative. It followed up after a grocery store was built in a food desert to assess the store's impact. The study found that "simply building new food retail stores may not be sufficient to promote behavior change related to diet."<ref name="Wrigley 2003" /> Studies like those show that living close to a store that is stocked with fruits and vegetables does not make a large impact on food choices.<ref name="Wrigley 2003" />
A separate survey also found that supermarket and grocery store availability did not generally correlate with diet quality and fresh food intake.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> Pearson et al. further confirmed that physical access is not the sole determinant of fruit and vegetable consumption.<ref name="Wrigley 2003" />
As food deserts are most commonly found in high poverty areas, a study of the struggles of being low-income in low-resourced communities found that many people understand the importance of maintaining a balanced diet through the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fewer processed foods, with some participants even expressing a desire to eat fresh and healthy foods. However, being of a lower socioeconomic status further exacerbates the unhealthy diets observed of many people who live and/or work in food deserts. Despite the desire to eat fresh and healthy meals, it is oftentimes unattainable for low-income families, forcing them to turn to packaged and process foods that have longer shelf lives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Byker Shanks |first1=Carmen |last2=Andress |first2=Lauri |last3=Hardison-Moody |first3=Annie |last4=Jilcott Pitts |first4=Stephanie |last5=Patton-Lopez |first5=Megan |last6=Prewitt |first6=T. Elaine |last7=Dupuis |first7=Virgil |last8=Wong |first8=Karen |last9=Kirk-Epstein |first9=Marisa |last10=Engelhard |first10=Emily |last11=Hake |first11=Monica |last12=Osborne |first12=Isabel |last13=Hoff |first13=Casey |last14=Haynes-Maslow |first14=Lindsey |date=2022-12-09 |title=Food Insecurity in the Rural United States: An Examination of Struggles and Coping Mechanisms to Feed a Family among Households with a Low-Income |journal=Nutrients |language=en |volume=14 |issue=24 |pages=5250 |doi=10.3390/nu14245250 |doi-access=free |issn=2072-6643 |pmc=9785039 |pmid=36558409}}</ref>
=== Climate change and weather === Africa suffers from food deserts, and there is also a direct link between climate change and the rapid growth of food deserts.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> While supermarkets are expanding to areas in which they once did not exist, there is still a disparity when it comes to physical access.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> In Cape Town, asset-related urban food deserts are the main reason for food insecurity since its people cannot afford the food that they would prefer to eat.<ref name="Tulane 2018" />
Climate change can play role in urban food deserts because it directly affects accessibility. The main way that climate change affects food security and food deserts is by reducing the production of food.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> <ref>{{Cite news |last1=Plumer |first1=Brad |last2=Popovich |first2=Nadja |last3=Palmer |first3=Brian |date=2020-08-24 |title=How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html |access-date=2026-04-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> With the limited availability of a product, the price rises making it unavailable to those that cannot afford more expensive commodities.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> In Cape Town specifically, supermarkets rely directly on fresh produce from the nearby farm area.<ref name="Tulane 2018" /> Climate change affects the production of food, and it can also damage capital assets that affect accessibility and utilization.<ref name="Tulane 2018" />
[[File:Englewood Walmart after Hurricane Ian 01.jpg|thumb|Hurricane Ian caused some damage to the ceiling of a Walmart store.]]
Food access can be restricted in an area that is hit by natural disasters. Access to stores in low-income neighborhoods can be blocked when roads are flooded.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dargin |first1=Jennifer |last2=Mostafavi |first2=Ali |date=December 2022 |title=Dissecting heterogeneous pathways to disparate household-level impacts due to infrastructure service disruptions |journal=International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction |volume=83 |article-number=103351 |doi=10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103351 |bibcode=2022IJDRR..8303351D}}</ref> Building damage can delay store openings. After Hurricane Harvey, grocery stores were not able to resume normal operation as they faced issues of infrastructure damage and supply issues. This situation was particularly dire for low-income communities, as they often have fewer resources to cope with such disasters and are more likely to live in areas prone to flooding and lacking in food retail options.<ref name="Rosenheim 2024">{{cite journal |last1=Rosenheim |first1=Nathanael P |last2=Watson |first2=Maria |last3=Casellas Connors |first3=John |last4=Safayet |first4=Mastura |last5=Peacock |first5=Walter Gillis |date=2024 |title=Food Access After Disasters: A Multidimensional View of Restoration After Hurricane Harvey |journal=Journal of the American Planning Association |issn=0194-4363 |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=452–470 |doi=10.1080/01944363.2023.2284160 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
This resulted in supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods being closed longer than other stores, which only worsened pre-existing inequalities.<ref name="Rosenheim 2024"/> There were less supermarkets available after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Access to supermarkets in predominately Black neighborhoods was already limited prior to the storm. The Storm increased racial-disparities in food access and access to supermarkets.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mundorf |first1=Adrienne R. |last2=Willits-Smith |first2=Amelia |last3=Rose |first3=Donald |date=2015 |title=10 Years Later: Changes in Food Access Disparities in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina |journal=Journal of Urban Health |volume=92 |issue=4 |pages=605–610 |doi=10.1007/s11524-015-9969-9 |issn=1468-2869 |pmc=4524844 |pmid=25985844}}</ref>
===Work and family=== People who have nonstandard work hours, including rotating or evening shifts, may have difficulty shopping at stores that close earlier and so opt instead to shop at fast food or convenience stores, which are generally open later.<ref name="Phillips 2011" /><ref name="Wrigley 2003" /> The lack of accessible healthy foods increases the difficulty for these shift workers to maintain a balanced diet. Healthcare workers who work the night shift, especially in food deserts, report skipping meals until they leave work, because oftentimes, the only available options are pre-packaged foods or fast foods, despite their own desire to eat nutritious foods.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Teng |first1=Nur Islami Mohd Fahmi |last2=Ngelayang |first2=Emmanuel |last3=Said |first3=Norfarhana Md |last4=Juliana |first4=Norsham |last5=Mohd Azmi |first5=Nor Amira Syahira |last6=Chen |first6=Ling-Wei |last7=Loy |first7=See Ling |date=2025-08-20 |title=A qualitative study on nutrition and well-being of healthcare shift workers |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=30512 |doi=10.1038/s41598-025-11534-5 |pmid=40835640 |pmc=12368084 |bibcode=2025NatSR..1530512T |issn=2045-2322}}</ref> One study found that shift workers who worked longer shifts self-reported higher levels of ultra-processed food consumption, as well as reporting higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Disruptions to circadian rhythms due to irregular work schedules can lead to erratic eating patterns, in turn causing shift workers to become more susceptible to hedonic eating, the authors suggest.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Akin |first1=Elif |last2=Bayram |first2=Hatice Merve |last3=Ozturkcan |first3=Arda |date=2026-02-12 |title=Craving under pressure: the interplay between hedonic hunger, mental health, and ultra-processed food consumption in shift-workers |journal=Frontiers in Public Health |language=English |volume=14 |article-number=1757016 |doi=10.3389/fpubh.2026.1757016 |doi-access=free |pmid=41769110 |pmc=12935673 |bibcode=2026FrPH...1457016A |issn=2296-2565}}</ref> Living and/or working in a food desert amplifies one's desire to turn to ultra-processed foods and pre-packaged foods as both a means of convenience but also as a coping mechanism to deal with the occupational demands and psychological stressors shift workers face. If they live in a food desert and have family responsibilities, working may also limit time to travel to obtain nutritious foods as well as prepare healthful meals and exercise.<ref name="Correll 2010">{{cite journal |first1=Michael |last1=Correll |year=2010 |title=Getting Fat on Government Cheese: The Connection Between Social Welfare Participation, Gender, and Obesity in America |url=http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=djglp |journal=Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy |volume=18 |pages=45–77 |ssrn=1921920 |access-date=April 21, 2021 |archive-date=December 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221041153/https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=djglp |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Crime and systematic barriers === Crime can serve as both a cause and effect of the development of food deserts in urban areas. Theft in stores can lead to increased prices for food, which can lead to more theft in a vicious cycle.<ref name="Walker 2010" />
While violent and property crime are not always statistically linked to food deserts, studies have found that in neighborhoods with higher Black populations, the connection becomes stronger.<ref name="Boehme 2023" /> Possible explanations may include historical withdrawal, white flight, and limited mobility options for the Black community.<ref name="Boehme 2023">{{cite journal |first1=Hunter M. |last1=Boehme |first2=Robert J. |last2=Kaminski |first3=Timothy |last3=Mulrooney |first4=Robert A. |last4=Brown |title=Violence Within Food Deserts: A Block-Group Examination of Food Access, Racial Composition, and Violent Crime |journal=Violence and Victims |date=2023 |issn=0886-6708 |pages=435–456 |volume=38 |issue=3 |doi=10.1891/VV-2022-0007 |first5=Rakesh |last5=Malhotra |pmid=37348956 |s2cid=259233932}}</ref>
Additional factors may include how different stores welcome different groups of people<ref name="Phillips 2011"/> and nearness to liquor stores.<ref name="USCCR 2011">{{cite web |author=Illinois Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights |title=Food Deserts in Chicago |date=October 2011 |url=http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/IL-FoodDeserts-2011.pdf |publisher=United States Commission on Civil Rights |location=Washington, DC |page=7 |access-date=November 24, 2016 |archive-date=March 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308095831/https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/IL-FoodDeserts-2011.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Residents in a 2010 Chicago survey complained that in-store issues like poor upkeep and customer service were also impediments.<ref name="USCCR 2011"/> Safety can also be an issue for those in high-crime areas, especially if they must walk while carrying food and maybe also with a child or children.<ref name="USCCR 2011"/>
Media reports following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and related criminal justice reforms in the United States have often cited shoplifting and violence when reporting on the closure of urban grocery stores, while omitting more significant factors such as market demand, lower sales volumes, and industry consolidation. Financial reports to investors seldom mention theft as a cause of store closures.<ref name="Dickinson 2025">{{cite journal |last1=Dickinson |first1=Maggie |last2=Parker |first2=Simone |date=2025 |title=Policing the Grocery Store: Crime Panic Narratives and Enclosure in the Wake of Urban Uprisings |journal=Antipode |issn=1467-8330 |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=2349–2368 |doi=10.1111/anti.70057 |bibcode=2025Antip..57.2349D |quote=Media coverage about shoplifting and theft in retail stores has proliferated wildly since 2020.}}</ref> Despite corporations such as Target, CVS, and Walgreens publicly suggesting that shoplifting was the major reason for store closures, retail theft decreased in 17 of 24 major U.S. cities that consistently reported data from 2018 to 2023.<ref name="Sebastian 2024">{{cite news |last1=Sebastian |first1=Thea |last2=Love |first2=Hanna |title=Retail theft in US cities: Separating fact from fiction |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/retail-theft-in-us-cities-separating-fact-from-fiction/ |access-date=May 7, 2025 |publisher=Brookings Institution |date=March 6, 2024}}</ref> The National Retail Federation (NRF) claimed in a 2023 report that "organized retail crime" accounted for nearly half of all reported inventory losses in 2021; the estimate was later retracted due to faulty data.{{r|Dickinson 2025}}<ref name="Medina 2023">{{cite news |last=Medina |first=Eduardo |date=December 8, 2023 |title=Retail Group Retracts Startling Claim About 'Organized' Shoplifting |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/business/organized-shoplifting-retail-crime-theft-retraction.html |id={{ProQuest|2899411312}} |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Masters 2023">{{cite news |last1=Masters |first1=Katherine |title=US retail lobbyists retract key claim on 'organized' retail crime |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-retail-lobbyists-retract-key-claim-organized-retail-crime-2023-12-06/ |access-date=May 7, 2025 |work=Reuters |date=December 6, 2023}}</ref>
=== Behavioral, social, and cultural barriers === In 2017, the likelihood of being food insecure in the US was for 22.4% Latinos, 26.1% for African Americans, and 10.5% for Whites.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sharma |first1=Shreela V |last2=Hernandez |first2=Daphne C. |last3=Hoelscher |first3=Deanna M. |title=Multidisciplinary approaches to address food insecurity and nutrition among youth and their families |journal=Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk |date=2015 |issn=2155-5834 |volume=6 |issue=2 |article-number=Article 1 |doi=10.58464/2155-5834.1278 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2002 study found that people who are food insecure often find themselves having to cut back more at the end of the month, when their finances or food stamps run out. Month to month, there are other special occasions that may lead to higher spending on food such as birthdays, holidays, and unplanned events.<ref name="Messer 2002">{{cite journal |last1=Messer |first1=Ellen |last2=Ross |first2=Elizabeth M |date=2002 |title=Talking to Patients About Food Insecurity |volume=5 |issue=4 |journal=Nutrition in Clinical Care |issn=1523-5408 |pages=168–181 |doi=10.1046/j.1523-5408.2002.00303.x |pmid=12380244}}</ref> Because people who are food insecure are still fundamentally involved in society, they are faced with the other stressors of life as well as the additional frustration or guilt that comes with not being able to feed themselves or their family.<ref name="Messer 2002" />
In 2017, Steven Cummins proposed that food availability is not the problem, but eating habits are.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Corapi |first=Sarah |date=February 3, 2014 |title=Why it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate a 'food desert' |work=PBS NewsHour |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/takes-grocery-store-eliminate-food-desert |access-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018224812/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/takes-grocery-store-eliminate-food-desert/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2005, Pearson et al. urged food policy to focus on the social and cultural barriers to healthy eating.<ref name="Pearson 2005">{{cite journal |last1=Pearson |first1=Tim |last2=Russell |first2=Jean |last3=Campbell |first3=Michael J. |last4=Barker |first4=Margo E. |year=2005 |title=Do 'food deserts' influence fruit and vegetable consumption?—a cross-sectional study |journal=Appetite |issn=1095-8304 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=195–197 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2005.04.003 |pmid=15927303 |s2cid=41779820}}</ref> For instance, New York City's public-private Healthy Bodegas Initiative has aimed to encourage bodegas to carry milk and fresh produce and residents to purchase and consume them.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Healthy Bodegas: Increasing and Promoting Healthy Foods at Corner Stores in New York City |journal=American Journal of Public Health |issn=1541-0048 |volume=102 |issue=10 |pages=e27–e31 |year=2012 |last1=Dannefer |first1=Rachel |last2=Williams |first2=Donya A |last3=Baronberg |first3=Sabrina |last4=Silver |first4=Lynn |pmid=22897534 |pmc=3490666 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2011.300615 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Pharmacies === In addition to the close proximity of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores, many low-income communities contain a higher prevalence of pharmacies, compared to medium- or high-income communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ohri-Vachaspati |first1=Punam |last2=DeWeese |first2=Robin S. |last3=Acciai |first3=Francesco |last4=DeLia |first4=Derek |last5=Tulloch |first5=David |last6=Tong |first6=Daoqin |last7=Lorts |first7=Cori |last8=Yedidia |first8=Michael J. |date=2019 |title=Healthy Food Access in Low-Income High-Minority Communities: A Longitudinal Assessment—2009–2017 |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=16 |issue=13 |page=2354 |doi=10.3390/ijerph16132354 |issn=1661-7827 |pmc=6650883 |pmid=31277250 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Such stores often contain a high number of snack foods, such as candy, sugary beverages, and salty snacks, which is within arm's reach of a cash register in 96% of pharmacies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitehouse |first1=Anne |last2=Simon |first2=Anna |last3=French |first3=Simone A. |last4=Wolfson |first4=Julian |date=2012 |title=Availability of snacks, candy and beverages in hospital, community clinic and commercial pharmacies |journal=Public Health Nutrition |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=1117–1123 |doi=10.1017/S1368980011003600 |issn=1475-2727 |pmid=22277097 |doi-access=free}}</ref> While pharmacies are important in these communities, they act as yet another convenience store and so further expose low-income residents to non-nutritional food.
== Nutrition == [[File:Grocery store shelves of junk food.jpg|thumb|Processed foods at a grocery store in Houston, Texas]] A key element of a food desert is its lack of healthy and nutritious foods. As food deserts are typically defined by household's decreased access to supermarkets and healthy food acquisition sources, areas defined as food deserts tend to have a greater number of fast food restaurants and convenient stores that are often more accessible and affordable for households.<ref name="Davies 2017"/>
Convenient/corner stores and fast food restaurants frequently carry more processed foods than fresh, unprocessed foods. The widespread availability of processed foods in food deserts poses increased health risks to residents: a high dietary intake of ultra-processed foods, which contains higher contents of sodium, salts, sugars, and additives than fresh foods, has been consistently linked to higher risks of negative health and metabolic outcomes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Xiaojia |last2=Zhang |first2=Zhang |last3=Yang |first3=Huijie |last4=Qiu |first4=Peishan |last5=Wang |first5=Haizhou |last6=Wang |first6=Fan |last7=Zhao |first7=Qiu |last8=Fang |first8=Jun |last9=Nie |first9=Jiayan |date=2020 |title=Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health outcomes: a systematic review of epidemiological studies |journal=Nutrition Journal |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=86 |doi=10.1186/s12937-020-00604-1 |issn=1475-2891 |doi-access=free |pmid=32819372 |pmc=7441617}}</ref><ref name="Walker 2010" />
A 2025 study found that the closure of grocery stores caused by the expansion of dollar stores caused nearby consumers to purchase fewer healthy products.{{r|Caoui 2025}} A 2010 study stated that limited access to nutritious foods in food deserts can greatly impact one's ability to engage in healthy practices. Food access, affordability of the food, and health literacy are all social determinants of health that are accentuated by living in a food desert.<ref name="Walker 2010" />
In order to accommodate the racialized aspect of food insecurity that exists as a result of historical redlining, and other racialized practices, some say the term "food apartheid" should be used over food insecurity, because the term "apartheid" acknowledges that race is a driving factor in the creation and persistence of these deserts.<ref name="Black Food Geographies">{{cite web |title=Black Food Geographies |url=https://uncpress.org/book/9781469651507/black-food-geographies/}}</ref> Food apartheids include limited access to food in general, but limited access to "nutrient-rich" as well, which in turn leads to "poor health outcomes," including "heart disease, diabetes, depression, and anxiety," and can be classified as "structuralized racism".<ref name="Gripper 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Gripper |first1=Ashley B. |last2=Nethery |first2=Rachel |last3=Cowger |first3=Tori L. |last4=White |first4=Monica |last5=Kawachi |first5=Ichiro |last6=Adamkiewicz |first6=Gary |title=Community solutions to food apartheid: A spatial analysis of community food-growing spaces and neighborhood demographics in Philadelphia |journal=Social Science & Medicine |date=2022 |volume=310 |article-number=115221 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115221 |pmid=36058113 |pmc=11253559}}</ref> Within predominantly black and brown neighborhoods and school districts, there was higher clustering of fast food restaurants, with "1.25 to 2 times as many restaurants than expected by chance".<ref name="Kwate 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Kwate |first1=Naa Oyo A. |last2=Loh |first2=Ji Meng |title=Separate and unequal: The influence of neighborhood and school characteristics on spatial proximity between fast food and schools |journal=Preventive Medicine |date=2010 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=153–156 |doi=10.1016/j.ypmed.2010.04.020 |pmid=20457178}}</ref> This was associated with a strong correlation between fast food proximity and youth body mass index (BMI), meaning black public school students are at a stronger "risk of obesity".<ref name="Kwate 2010"/> Consequently, black youth are predisposed to a poor diet, and are more likely to continually make unhealthy dietary choices as a result of the subpar quality of grocery stores available, and high prevalence of fast food locations. However, black communities have done their best to mitigate this through community dietary efforts — for example, poorer black neighborhoods tend to have "more community gardens and urban farms" as a way to make fresh produce more readily available to residents.<ref name="Gripper 2022"/> This reiterates the long-standing tradition of self-reliance in black communities, which allows residents to creatively "make ways out of no way" to feed and provide for themselves, even though these mechanisms of self-preservation are overlooked and unnoticed by people outside the community. Backyard gardens and other forms of unmarketable green spaces used to supplement the often unhealthy and overpriced foods offered in local bodegas and corner stores are not "explicitly [political]",<ref name="Black Food Geographies"/> but a way for those in nutritionally underserved communities to meet an otherwise unmet need. These green spaces work to promote health, but also allow residents to grow closer to each other, and realize that there are actionable methods for them to take control over some aspects of their health.
Multiple studies in the 2010s suggest that differences in demand for healthy food also contribute to poor health in food deserts.<ref name="Allcott 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Allcott |first1=Hunt |last2=Diamond |first2=Rebecca |last3=Dubé |first3=Jean-Pierre |last4=Handbury |first4=Jessie |last5=Rahkovsky |first5=Ilya |last6=Schnell |first6=Molly |date=2019 |title=Food Deserts and the Causes of Nutritional Inequality |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=134 |issue=4 |pages=1793–1844 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjz015 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref><ref name="Lee 2012"/><ref name="Hattori 2013"/>
==Effects==
=== Community health === The concept of deprivation amplification has been proposed as an explanation of how food deserts can perpetuate poor health outcomes for a community: scholars suggest that residents of low-income neighborhoods' exposure to inadequate and unhealthy food environments can increase their individual risk factors for disease and poor health.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009"/> However, a 2019 study published in ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' cast doubt on the notion that exposing poor neighborhoods to healthy groceries reduces nutritional inequality.<ref name="Allcott 2019" /> The study found "that exposing low-income households to the same products and prices available to high-income households reduces nutritional inequality by only about 10 percent, while the remaining 90 percent is driven by differences in demand".<ref name="Allcott 2019" />
Past literature has suggested that lower retail access to supermarkets is linked to select cardiovascular health outcomes, and some studies have shown that increased access to supermarkets lowers the risk of obesity with opposite outcomes for convenience stores.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009" /><ref name="Testa 2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Testa |first1=Alexander |last2=Jackson |first2=Dylan B |last3=Semenza |first3=Daniel C |last4=Vaughn |first4=Michael G |date=2021 |title=Food deserts and cardiovascular health among young adults |journal=Public Health Nutrition |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=117–124 |doi=10.1017/S1368980020001536 |pmid=32641177 |issn=1368-9800 |pmc=10195490}}</ref> However, many scholars have highlighted the limitations of these studies due to their localization, short time frame, focus on a singular health outcome (people's health are assessed through multiple measures of health, not just one factor), and inability to account for all the social determinants of health outcomes.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009" /><ref name="Testa 2021" />
Scholars have asserted that while these studies can give insight into how food accessibility can contribute to health outcomes, because of the intersecting social determinants of health that contribute to individual health outcomes, the results cannot be interpreted as a casual relationship between food deserts and poor health outcomes.<ref name="Testa 2021" />
Food deserts are just one aspect of people's individual food environments: food environments consist of the intersecting spheres of community food options (supermarkets, small stores, etc.); work/school/home food options (school food, home purchases); and individual food intake, all of which determine a health outcome.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Public Health Effects of Food Deserts: Workshop Summary |date=2009 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-13728-7 |location=Washington, D.C. |doi=10.17226/12623 |pmid=25032337 |author1=National Research Council (US) |bibcode=2009nap..book12623I}}</ref> Likewise, individual characteristics such as demographics, socioeconomic status, the physical environment (retail access, transportation, etc.), and households' social environments (cultural/social norms, etc.) all impact diet, which is a determinant of health outcomes and a factor in certain diseases.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009" />
People's food environment is one of many social determinants of health that contribute to his/her health outcomes: social determinants of health such as transportation infrastructure, urban planning, the built environment, and local policies also contribute to a person's health outcome.<ref name="Ver Ploeg 2009" /> Due to the complex intersecting factors of social determinants of health, studies have suggested that a community and individual's socioeconomic status (resource and economic deprivation) are more associated with negative health outcomes, rather than a lack of food access that is characteristic of food deserts.<ref name="Testa 2021" />
A 2012 study found that grocery stores are more closely spaced in poor neighborhoods, and that there was no relation between children's food consumption, their weight, and the type of food available near their homes.<ref name="Lee 2012">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.036 |pmid=22381683 |title=The role of local food availability in explaining obesity risk among young school-aged children |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=74 |issue=8 |pages=1193–203 |year=2012 |last1=Lee |first1=Helen}}</ref>
A study 2013 suggested that adding a grocery store near one's home was associated with an average BMI decrease of 0.115, which is very small compared to the excess BMI of an obese person.<ref name="Hattori 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Hattori |first1=Aiko |last2=An |first2=Ruopeng |last3=Sturm |first3=Roland |title=Neighborhood Food Outlets, Diet, and Obesity Among California Adults, 2007 and 2009 |journal=Preventing Chronic Disease |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) |volume=10 |date=2013 |pages=E35 |article-number=120123 |issn=1545-1151 |doi=10.5888/pcd10.120123 |pmid=23489640 |pmc=3600873 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
Food deserts are also associated with broader chronic disease burdens and health disparities, particularly in low-income and minority communities. Limited access to affordable, nutritious foods often leads to increased consumption of processed, calorie-dense foods that are high in fats, sugars, and sodium.<ref>{{cite web |title=Healthy Food Environments |url=https://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthtopics/healthyfood.htm |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}}</ref> This dietary pattern has been linked to higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<ref>{{cite web |title=Food Access Research Atlas |url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/ |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture}}</ref>
In addition to physical health outcomes, food deserts may contribute to poorer overall diet quality and nutritional deficiencies, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children and older adults. Structural barriers, including limited transportation access and economic constraints, further exacerbate these disparities and make it more difficult for residents to obtain fresh and healthy foods.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=R.E. |title=Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature |journal=Health & Place |year=2010 |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=876–884 |doi=10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.013 |pmid=20462784 }}</ref> As studies show the relationship between unhealthy food purchasing and the use of public transit within food deserts and food swamps, transportation development must be included in conversations about overall community development. Public transit routes that directly connect to neighborhoods with diverse food sources, as well as reduced-fares would be community-level interventions that directly aim to promote healthy eating habits.<ref name=":0" />
Food deserts can also be examined through a One Health framework, as they reflect the interconnected relationships between human health, environmental systems, and food production. Limited access to fresh foods is often influenced by broader factors such as urban planning, agricultural practices, and food distribution systems, which in turn shape dietary behaviors and population health outcomes.<ref>{{cite web |title=One Health |date=July 3, 2025 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/index.html |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}}</ref>
== Strategies to address food deserts == While infrastructure upgrades, such the construction of new supermarkets and community food hubs, can boost perceived access to food, studies conducted in a number of countries have demonstrated that they do not always result in major dietary changes or a decrease in obesity rates.<ref name="UCSD 2022a">UCSD Library. "Comparative Analysis of Food Desert Interventions in the US and UK." 2022.</ref> For instance, studies conducted in the US and the UK revealed that although locals were more satisfied after new supermarkets opened, overall fruit and vegetable consumption stayed relatively constant in the absence of further education and neighborhood-based programs.<ref name="UCSD 2023b">UCSD Library. "Nutrition and Built Environment Studies." 2023.</ref> Outside of the US, initiatives in Canada and sub-Saharan Africa have integrated local agricultural assistance with mobile food distribution, highlighting the necessity of regionally customized, culturally appropriate solutions.<ref name="UCSD 2021">UCSD Library. "Global Approaches to Food Access Policy." 2021.</ref> These tactics are part of a larger movement in food policy that addresses systemic obstacles to healthy eating by combining physical infrastructure with public health and urban planning programs.<ref name="UCSD 2022b">UCSD Library. "Urban Planning and Food Justice." 2022.</ref>
== Alternative frameworks to food deserts ==
Several studies in the 2010s have pointed out potential limitations of applying the concept of food deserts to addressing issues of food disparity and unhealthy food consumption, particularly in non-Western countries.<ref name="Battersby 2014" /><ref name="Davies 2017" />
As food deserts is a concept that originated in the U.K. and is primarily studied in Anglo-Saxon countries, several scholars have questioned the applicability of food deserts to countries in the Global South. Scholars point out that food deserts are typically defined as a lack of access to supermarkets (spatial focus) and that its framework operates with the assumption that increased supermarkets means increased availability of healthy foods.<ref name="Battersby 2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Battersby |first1=Jane |last2=Crush |first2=Jonathan |date=2014 |title=Africa's Urban Food Deserts |journal=Urban Forum |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=143–151 |doi=10.1007/s12132-014-9225-5 |s2cid=255517241 |issn=1015-3802}}</ref>
Some urban researchers argue that this current framework for identifying food deserts fails to consider additional spatial and non-spatial factors that contribute to household's food access and incorrectly assumes an increase in the number of retail food options will directly mitigate issues of food access and food insecurity within all local food systems.<ref name="Battersby 2012">{{Cite journal |last=Battersby |first=Jane |date=2012 |title=Beyond the food desert: finding ways to speak about urban food security in South Africa |journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography |volume=94 |issue=2 |pages=141–159 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0467.2012.00401.x |s2cid=55452849 |issn=0435-3684}}</ref><ref name="Battersby 2014" /> While the traditional framework assumes homogeneity between people's experiences in their local food system, scholars cite additional factors such as travel time, crime, food acquisition outside an person's home neighborhood, employment, income, and other household-specific behaviors that influence people's access to food.<ref name="Battersby 2012" />
thumb|A market shop in Anambra State, Nigeria Several studies have highlighted alternative food sources that deem supermarket access less relevant in transitioning countries such as many in Africa and rainforest cities in Brazil.<ref name="Davies 2017"/> For example, studies in 2012 and 2014 highlight that alternative food acquisition sources such as food vendors, small shops, open-air markets, urban agriculture, and food transfer between households are more frequently visited than retail food options in Africa's various cities.<ref name="Battersby 2014" /><ref name="Battersby 2012" />
Likewise, a 2017 study conducted in Brazil highlights the critical role of non-retail sources such as fishing, farming, and home gardens in people's food security and access.<ref name="Davies 2017" /> Due to the overlapping, context-specific factors unique to different local food economies that influence household food access and food security, some scholars emphasize the need to adjust the definition and framework of food deserts to specific contexts in order to effectively and holistically address food insecurity, nutrition disparities, and food access issues in developing countries.<ref name="Davies 2017" />
Several researchers have also proposed shortcomings in the current definition and framework of food deserts in the U.S. when working to lessen unhealthy food consumption, diet disparities between different communities, and food insecurity. Some researchers criticize the primary focus of current food desert frameworks - lack of retail access - as a one-dimensional over-simplification of food security and access issues that fails to address structural issues to reduce unhealthy food consumption and diet disparities.<ref name="Sadler 2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Sadler |first1=Richard Casey |last2=Gilliland |first2=Jason Andrew |last3=Arku |first3=Godwin |date=2016 |title=Theoretical issues in the 'food desert' debate and ways forward |journal=GeoJournal |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=443–455 |doi=10.1007/s10708-015-9634-6 |bibcode=2016GeoJo..81..443S |s2cid=254512944 |issn=0343-2521}}</ref> Many food justice advocates also state that while local grassroots operations can provide some communities with increased food access, they fail to end food access inequities by addressing the core issues of poverty and historical disinvestment in lower-resourced communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Block |first1=Daniel R. |last2=Chávez |first2=Noel |last3=Allen |first3=Erika |last4=Ramirez |first4=Dinah |date=2012-06-01 |title=Food sovereignty, urban food access, and food activism: contemplating the connections through examples from Chicago |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-011-9336-8 |journal=Agriculture and Human Values |language=en |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=203–215 |doi=10.1007/s10460-011-9336-8 |bibcode=2012AgrHV..29..203B |issn=1572-8366}}</ref>
Likewise, some scholars argue that the current definition frames food access as a binary problem (either you are in a food desert or not), which overstates the problem of space when food access is a complex, multi-dimensional problem involving other critical factors such as transportation infrastructure, income, time, and consumer behavior.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Widener |first=Michael J. |date=2018 |title=Spatial access to food: Retiring the food desert metaphor |journal=Physiology & Behavior |volume=193 |issue=Pt B |pages=257–260 |doi=10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.02.032 |pmid=29454842 |s2cid=3523748}}</ref> Several researchers have also cited longitudinal studies that do not observe a connection between food access and health outcomes and highlight data that suggests increased retail access does not necessarily improve the dietary choices and subsequent health outcomes of a community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Block |first1=Jason P. |last2=Subramanian |first2=S. V. |date=2015 |title=Moving Beyond "Food Deserts": Reorienting United States Policies to Reduce Disparities in Diet Quality |journal=PLOS Medicine |volume=12 |issue=12 |article-number=e1001914 |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001914 |issn=1549-1676 |doi-access=free |pmid=26645285 |pmc=4672916}}</ref>
Alternatively, scholars propose a model that addresses the complex intersection of individual behavior and food choice with social and political forces to solve issues of hunger, food security, and food access.<ref name="Sadler 2016"/>
== See also == {{Portal|Society|Food}} * {{annotated link|15-minute city}} * {{annotated link|Banking desert}} * {{annotated link|Book desert}} * {{annotated link|Cost of poverty}} * {{annotated link|Digital Divide}} * {{annotated link|Environmental racism}} * {{annotated link|Fenceline community}} * {{annotated link|Food choice of older adults}} * {{annotated link|Food deserts by country}} * {{annotated link|Food safety}} * {{annotated link|Medical desert}} * {{annotated link|Societal effects of cars}} * {{annotated link|Supermarket shortage}} * {{annotated link|Transit desert}} <!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite web |last1=Devitt |first1=James |title=What Really Happens When a Grocery Store Opens in a 'Food Desert'? |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/december/what-really-happens-when-a-grocery-store-opens-in-a--food-desert.html |publisher=New York University |language=en |date=December 10, 2019}} * {{cite news |last1=Crutchfield |first1=Lisa |title=Food Deserts: The Rest of the RVA Shopping Story |url=https://richmondfamilymagazine.com/community/food-deserts-rest-rva-shopping-story/ |work=Richmond Family Magazine |date=February 25, 2015}}
Category:Economic geography Desert Desert Category:Food deserts Category:Urban decay