Neighborhood Food Infrastructure and Food Security in Metropolitan Detroit

Abstract

Concern about spatial access to food retailers and its relationship to household food security has increased in recent years, placing greater importance on understanding how proximity to food retailers is related to household food consumption. Using data from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study (MRRS), a panel survey of working‐age adults in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, this article explores whether access to the food retailers is associated with food insecurity. We use unique data about food retailers in metropolitan Detroit to develop an array of food retailer access measures that account for distance to nearest retailer, density of retailers, commute times, mode of transit, and type of retailer. Across most measures, we find that many vulnerable population groups have greater or at least comparable spatial access to food resources as less vulnerable populations groups. There is little evidence, however, that greater access to food retailers is associated with food security.

Food insecurity in Detroit: exploring the relationship between patient-reported food insecurity and proximity to healthful grocery stores

“…The characteristics and demographics associated with food insecurity in the current study are similar to those presented in previous research (e.g. households with low levels of income, minorities) (5) , and this is particularly true in the highlight 'hotspot' neighbourhoods found within the Detroit city limits. In regard to proximity to healthy grocery stores, although contrary to our original hypothesis, findings of the current study compliment those which have recently emerged in the literature (30)(31)(32)(33) , emphasising the need to consider whether those identifying as food insecure, actually utilise the food stores around them and the effects of contextual factors (e.g.…”

“…Factors associated with food insecurity include unemployment, urban residence (5) , single-parent household (6) , low-income and race. The intersectionality of race/ ethnicity and poverty accompanied by unjust social conditions and racial segregation further perpetrate inequities in availability of resources; for instance, spatially unjust food access.…”

The association between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity at the US–Mexico border: Experiences of low-income patients in the Rio Grande Valley

“…In addition, we did not examine access to public programs or resources (such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which may be more likely to facilitate food security than neighborhood environment. 60–62 This study did not examine respondents’ access to food retailers, or the quality of food to which they may have access, limiting the generalizability of our findings to other geographic contexts. Future research should further examine how neighborhood environment and public programs may influence food security for individuals living with HIV in the RGV and other medically underserved regions of the United States.…”

Economic hardship and neighborhood diversity: Influences on consumer well‐being

“…Neighborhoods provide a beneficial unit of analysis for consumer research, having been used for examination of consumers' financial literacy (Servon and Kaestner, 2008; Lachance, 2014), food access and insecurities (Allard et al ., 2017), high involvement purchase decisions (Houston and Sudman, 1977), and even complaint behavior (Cornwell et al ., 1991). In these studies, neighborhood data allows for investigation of factors not provided in secondary datasets and comparison between individual‐level survey data and macro level factors.…”