Characterizing Food Access in America: Considering the Role of Emergency Food Pantries in Areas without Supermarkets

Abstract

This study provides a more comprehensive depiction of the environment in which low-income households and other vulnerable populations acquire and purchase food by considering access to emergency food pantries in areas lacking supermarkets. The locations of food pantries were mapped against the map of supermarkets in 47 states and the District of Columbia to identify local areas without supermarkets and the percentage of these areas that have a pantry. Local area population characteristics were used to define subgroups of areas based on poverty level and socioeconomic status of households. The study found that food pantries help to address food access limitations in a sizable percentage of area without supermarkets. About one quarter of census tracts with no supermarkets were found to have at least one food pantry. When considering only high-poverty tracts, 40% of areas without a supermarket had a pantry. The study also found that among areas without supermarkets, pantries tend to be located in areas with higher rates of poverty and lower socioeconomic status. These findings highlight the important role that pantries play in ensuring access to food for low-income American families and also underscore the importance of taking these programs into account when examining the extent of food access limitations.

Geographic Access to Food Shelves among Racial/ethnic Minorities and Foreign-born Residents in the Twin Cities, Minnesota

“…Results are consistent with other findings suggesting that, unlike for-profit retail services, food shelves are more likely to locate in areas with high levels of poverty and a known need for emergency food. 37,51 Our study additionally found that these areas include a high proportion of minority and immigrant/refugee residents. In this cross sectional study, our results might be interpreted to suggest that food insecure families make choices about where to live based on access to emergency food suppliers, but given the known choice constraints on housing among the poor, 52 this explanation is unlikely.…”

“…36 One recent nation-wide geographic analysis found that over 40% of census tracts without a supermarket in high-poverty areas had a food pantry supplying emergency food to area residents. 37 In this study, areas with a greater percentage of non-white residents and households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were the most likely areas to have a food pantry, but not have access to a supermarket. This supports the notion that food pantries are likely a common and accessible source of food among these segments of the population.…”

“…A second limitation of this study is that we examined only geographic access to food shelves. Other challenges beyond geographic access almost certainly exist for those who rely on food shelves, 37 including challenges that may be unique to food shelves, as compared with other mainstream food retailers. These challenges have been well documented among Minnesota emergency food suppliers.…”

The Second Life of Food: An Assessment of the Social Impact of Food Redistribution Activities in Emilia Romagna, Italy

“…Raising communication awareness towards food insecurity [33,56,60] Raising communication awareness towards food safety [29,56,60] Raising communication awareness towards waste [29,34,43] Solution to food poverty [34] Solution to excessive food production [34] Food waste prevention [29,34,43] Answers were rated on a 6-point Likert scale, with 1 representing the lowest score (total disagreement, lower extent, etc.) and 6 the highest (complete agreement, maximum extent, etc.).…”

“…Globally there is quite an extensive amount of literature on FRAs in various regions or countries, such as Australia [41,42], Austria [43][44][45][46], Canada [47,48], Belgium [49], Europe [12] Germany [50], Spain [51][52][53], Nordic Region [54], UK [55][56][57][58], and the US [25,59,60]. Some studies on food donations have been conducted also in Italy.…”