In Poor Neighborhoods, "Fresh" Produce Isn't Always What it Seems

Earth Day is a good opportunity to remember the tremendous discrepancies in who has access to fresh fruits and vegetables — and thus, who has the luxury of eating a healthy, balanced diet — in this country. My fellow bloggers and I have written extensively about so-called "food deserts," where the number of grocery stores are dramatically insufficient for the number of residents. Too often, people in these neighborhoods rely on corner stores, where a bag of Doritos is cheap and available and a container of strawberries may not fit either criteria.

As a result, federal, state and local governments have pushed to make healthy food more accessible. It's a major part of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" anti-obesity initiative, and her husband's proposed budget for next year would dedicate $400 million to bringing fresh food to corner stores. But such efforts don't do much good if the produce that makes it to poor neighborhoods is close to spoiling or has the potential to make people sick.

A new study from Drexel University researchers published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that when stores in poor neighborhoods do get fresh produce, it poses both of those risks to buyers. After buying salad, strawberries, cucumbers and watermelon repeatedly over 15 months in the Philadelphia area, the scientists found that mold, microorganisms and bacteria were all more likely to be present on produce purchased from stores in poor neighborhoods than in wealthier ones. In other words, if you are a poor Philadelphian buying fruits and vegetables in your own neighborhood, chances are your produce will spoil faster and may give you food poisoning. How appetizing.

Potential causes of this inequity are myriad, the study suggests. Smaller stores may not have the expertise or the resources to sanitize and refrigerate everything according to FDA regulations because, like the neighbors that rely on them, they have less money than others. Because smaller stores take smaller shipments, they can be forced to take deliveries from "nontraditional" — i.e. non-refrigerated — vehicles. Or they might rely on smaller suppliers who simply don't have the same quality standards as larger ones.

This news is depressing, but it's an important reminder to Michelle Obama and everyone else who (thankfully) is working to expand access to fresh food. It's not enough just to get produce into poor neighborhoods; these advocates must also focus on quality. Only when rich and poor people can get the same quality of strawberries and cucumbers will the food gap be eliminated.

Photo credit: thebittenword.com