The Obama Administration has released details of a new health food programme, worth in excess of US$400m, which will bring food retail stores and other health food retailers to under-served urban and rural communities across the US.
A partnership between the US Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative will promote a range of interventions to expand access to nutritious foods, including developing and equipping grocery stores and other small businesses and retailers selling healthy food in communities which currently lack these options.
Within seven years the multi-year project aims to eliminate these so-called food deserts – areas often found in economically distressed areas, which typically served by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer little or no fresh produce – and create thousands of jobs in urban and rural communities across the nation.
To help community leaders identify the food deserts in their area, the USDA recently launched a Food Environment Atlas tool, which identifies counties where, for example, more than 40 per cent of the residents have low incomes and live more than 1 mile from a grocery store.
Nationwide, the USDA estimates that 23.5m people, including 6.5m children, live in low-income areas which are located more than a mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5m, 11.5m are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 per cent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3m people living in low-income rural areas (that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket) the USDA claims around 1.1m are low-income.
“Our effort to improve access to healthy and affordable food is a critically important step toward First Lady Michelle Obama’s goal to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“The Healthy Food Financing Initiative will enhance access to healthy and affordable choices in struggling urban and rural communities, create jobs and economic development, and establish market opportunities for farmers and ranchers.”
