Solving Philly's Food Desert Conundrum

If they build it, will they come? Efforts to bring perishable foods to corner stores is a risky business but could have a huge impact.

June 11, 2012

PHILADELPHIA - Offering fresh fruits and vegetables is not without risk, as some retailers often discover until trial and error eventually dictates the right product offers that move from shelf to sale.

In a city like Philadelphia, which is facing a high obesity rate and a low-income population, turning 632 of the city??s 2,500 corner stores into "green grocers" is an ambitious plan that seeks to "put healthy food on every table," writes The Washington Post.

But the plan ?" the Get Healthy Philly initiative ?" is not without its challenges, as the newspaper notes, because perishable products have low shelf life, which increases waste, and retailers don??t have the buying power afforded to grocery stores.

As part of First Lady Obama??s plan to eradicate so-called food deserts, "hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to projects" like the one in Philadelphia have been dedicated to bring nutritious foods to low-income areas by 2017. But even with increased efforts from the White House, "a growing body of research has questioned its basic assumption: that people will eat better if given better options," writes the newspaper, noting that multiple studies "have scoured local, state and national data looking for a causal relationship between weight and access to healthy food. None has found it."

Helen Lee, a policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, told the newspaper that "It??s a theory that makes sense, and it??s intuitive. ??But my concern would be that we??re investing in a strategy that may not be very promising. If you??re investing government money, you should carefully be evaluating how much you??ve invested and how much you??re getting out of that."

Enter Philadelphia and its 632 corner stores, a city that so far is conducting the nation??s largest study to reveal what happens when fresh fruits and vegetables are made available to consumers in areas that "traditionally have gone without."

"Availability of these products is definitely changing," Giridhar Mallya, director of policy for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, told the newspaper, adding, "Now we??re waiting to see what is actually happening with people??s purchases."

What transpires in Philly could dictate the direction of the nation??s food policy initiatives, as in measurable results that show what people are or are not buying. Although it??s not clear what people actually do with those foods once they??re home ?" are they actually consumed, or tossed after several days and thousands of mold spores later?

"Research hasn??t caught up with all the interventions, because collecting evidence and evaluating it takes time," Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen A. Merrigan told the newspaper. "That??s why we??re excited about efforts like the one that they??re undertaking in Philadelphia."

Of the 632 stores, 122 have so far been supplied with new fridges to store produce and connections with wholesalers that they can buy from at lower prices. The newspaper notes that some stores have seen a surge in fresh produce demand.

"Almost every day, people grab lettuce or something," Catalina Morrell-Hunter, a corner store owner who??s participating in the initiative, told the newspaper, noting that apples and oranges are in high demand, and fresh cilantro has proved popular in the largely Hispanic neighborhood. "I don??t say I sell like an entire market does. But when people are short a carrot, they can come to the convenience store."

Corner store owner Denise Rodriguez urges kids to buy bananas. "It??s not a problem getting them to buy the fruit??It??s a problem trying to get them to keep buying the fruit, and stay off the junk food. You have people who buy what they want to buy," she said. Sales of fruits and vegetables make the new venture sustainable, even if it??s not yet profitable. "We??re not really worried too much about the profit right now, not until we see a profit later on. Right now, we??re just selling the fruit and making things healthier for other people. That??s good enough for us," she told the newspaper.

Temple University??s Center for Obesity Research is working with the city to study consumer changes (or non-changes) in shopping habits when healthy options are available. Prior to Get Healthy Philly, researchers conducted shopper intercepts with 7,000 shoppers exiting the stores to see what they bought. Now, with the initiative underway, they??re going to conduct another 7,000 intercepts.

"I don??t think we know much about how well this works," Gary Johnson, director of the Center for Obesity Research, told the newspaper, adding, "It??s a field in its infancy??nobody has really done at such a big scale." He expects that the research will be published in a year, and will be "the largest study by a long shot."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement