CHICAGO - Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel warned food retailers earlier this week that any effort to expand their businesses in Chicago should include the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables to underserved inner-city neighborhoods in their plans, Supermarket News reports.

The announcement underscores the city??s effort at reducing its food deserts ?" those areas with limited access to nutritious food.

Emanuel made his remarks in response to a media question seeking his thoughts on Walmart??s arrival in Chicago. He said he welcomes the mega-retailer as part of a solution to eradicate food deserts.

"I am bringing in Walmart, Target, Jewel, Dominick??s, Walgreens, and all the family-owned grocery stores into my office," Emanuel said. "They??ll have to lay out to me their citywide plans for the next four years to build growth. You can??t have a major city with 600,000 out of a population of 2.8 million people not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. It??s bad and it??s wrong."

Last week, Emanuel said that Save-A-Lot would open 30 stores in the Southwest side of the city, a source of fresh food.

"Walmart is part of that [whole food] solution as well as Fresh Market and Aldi," he said, adding that it is "unacceptable" for those who have to drive five miles to purchase fresh food.

"I think this is a moral question ?" let alone a health question or an economic growth question. By selling fresh foods to inner-city neighborhoods, everyone wins," Emanuel said.

For more on our industry??s efforts, read the February NACS Magazine cover story, "Uncover Nutrition."