Where are the food deserts? An evaluation of policy-relevant measures of community food access in South Carolina

Angela D Liese; James D Hibbert; Xiaoguang Ma; Bethany A Bell; Sarah E Battersby

doi:10.1080/19320248.2013.873009

Where are the food deserts? An evaluation of policy-relevant measures of community food access in South Carolina

J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2014;9(1):16-32. doi: 10.1080/19320248.2013.873009.

Authors

Angela D Liese¹, James D Hibbert¹, Xiaoguang Ma¹, Bethany A Bell², Sarah E Battersby³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 921 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
² College of Education, University of South Carolina, 820 South Main Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
³ Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, 709 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.

Abstract

Several recent United States (US) policies target spatial access to healthier food retailers. We evaluated two measures of community food access developed by two different agencies, using a 2009 food environment validation study in South Carolina as a reference. While the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service's (USDA ERS) measure designated 22.5% of census tracts as food deserts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) measure designated 29.0% as non-healthier retail tracts; 71% of tracts were designated consistently between USDA ERS and CDC. Our findings suggest a need for greater harmonization of these measures of community food access.

Keywords: food desert; food environment; policy; spatial access.

Grants and funding

R21 CA132133/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States