Evaluation of the first U.S. staple foods ordinance: impact on nutritional quality of food store offerings, customer purchases and home food environments

Abstract

Background Many lower-income and racially diverse communities in the U.S. have limited access to healthy foods, with few supermarkets and many small convenience stores, which tend to stock limited quantities and varieties of healthy foods. To address food access, in 2015 the Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance became the first policy requiring food stores to stock minimum quantities and varieties of 10 categories of healthy foods/beverages, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other staples, through licensing. This study examined whether: (a) stores complied, (b) overall healthfulness of store environments improved, (c) healthy customer purchases increased, and (d) healthfulness of home food environments improved among frequent small store shoppers. Methods Data for this natural (or quasi) experiment were collected at four times: pre-policy (2014), implementation only (no enforcement, 2015), enforcement initiation (2016) and continued monitoring (2017). In-person store assessments were conducted to evaluate food availability, price, quality, marketing and placement in randomly sampled food retailers in Minneapolis (n = 84) and compared to those in a nearby control city, St. Paul, Minnesota (n = 71). Stores were excluded that were: supermarkets, authorized through WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), and specialty stores (e.g., spice shops). Customer intercept interviews were conducted with 3,039 customers exiting stores. Home visits, including administration of home food inventories, were conducted with a sub-sample of frequent shoppers (n = 88). Results Overall, findings indicated significant improvements in healthy food offerings by retailers over time in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, with no significant differences in change between the two cities. Compliance was low; in 2017 only 10% of Minneapolis retailers in the sample were fully compliant, and 51% of participating Minneapolis retailers met at least 8 of the 10 required standards. Few changes were observed in the healthfulness of customer purchases or the healthfulness of home food environments among frequent shoppers, and changes were not different between cities. Conclusions This study is the first evaluation a local staple foods ordinance in the U.S. and reflects the challenges and time required for implementing such policies. Trial registration NCT02774330.

The Impact of a Local Ordinance on the Availability of Cultural Foods in Convenience Stores and Non-traditional Food Stores

“…The presence of any culturally speci c food at stores in Minneapolis increased slightly from pre-to postordinance; however, there was also a slight increase for Saint Paul, and these changes were not signi cant. This is consistent with the primary study ndings for healthy food availability in general across all stores (21). There were few changes in the availability of culturally preferred foods across communities from pre to post ordinance (35).…”

“…Ninety stores per city were randomly selected from a government list of stores with grocery licenses, excluding supermarkets, WIC-authorized, invalid licensing addresses or were exempt from the ordinance (n = 255). Following eld visits, veri cation and consent, 159 stores actively consented to participate in the study at one or more of the four data collection points (21).…”

“…Individuals make decisions about where to shop based on an array of social, economic, and geographic factors, and routinely shop at stores outside their neighborhood (38)(39)(40). Despite these limitations, the study design was rigorous and the results consistent with the main outcomes study (21). The Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance is the rst and one of the only local policies of its kind, and ndings from its evaluation provide unique insights for future efforts.…”

“…fruits and vegetables) is recorded. The adapted instrument can be found here: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/20378 (21). The parent study evaluated the change in the availability and price of all 69 items.…”

“…Local policy is a possible tool to improve place-based food access disparities that have contributed to racial health disparities (1).The Minneapolis, Minnesota USA City Council passed a Staple Foods Ordinance in 2014, the purpose of which was to "ensure that everyone has access to healthy foods no matter where they shop" (20).The details are described elsewhere (21). Brie y, ordinance requirements were that all food stores, including convenience stores and non-traditional food stores, meet a minimum stocking requirement for a variety of speci c healthy staple foods including fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, and low-fat dairy (21).…”