Disparities in access to fruits and vegetables: Results from the Louisiana Neighborhood Environment and Consumption Survey

A growing body of research has highlighted disparities in access to supermarkets by race-ethnicity. A gap in this research exists in the urban south, where the presence of small food stores might offset the lack of neighborhood supermarkets in the overall provision of key food groups, like fruits and vegetables. We investigated this in 2004-05 with a stratified random sample of 103 urban census tracts from southeast Louisiana, an area that included New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. We supplemented retailer lists from the state health department with on-the-ground observations to obtain addresses of all outlets in the sampled tracts. In-store observations in these outlets included measurement of linear shelf space of all fresh fruits and vegetables, using a technique for which our inter-rater reliability was strong (r > 0.95). We used 2000 Census data to categorize tracts by race-ethnicity (AA for those with more than 80% African-American residents). On average, AA tracts had about one-third as many supermarkets as did other tracts, yet three times as many small food stores. Total tract shelf space of either fruits or vegetables in AA tracts was significantly lower (P < 0.05); about one quarter of that available in other tracts. Our results suggest that despite the presence of many small food stores, racial-ethnic disparities exist in the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for urban southeast Louisiana. Initiatives to increase provision of fruits and vegetables in small neighborhood stores could make a significant impact on these disparities.