Changes in Food Access Disparities in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina

Introduction:  Racial-ethnic disparities in geographic food access exist throughout the United States and may help explain health inequalities. Prior research in New Orleans found such disparities worsened directly after the shock of Hurricane Katrina. Efforts to increase food access have brought new and expanded food retail outlets to the city.  This study examines the changes in city-wide food access and in racial-ethnic disparities at four points in time: 2004-2005, 2007, 2009, and 2013. 

Methods: An on-the-ground city-wide annual census of supermarket locations was combined with U.S. Census demographic data and mapped.  Census tracts were defined as predominately African-American if 80% or more of the population identified as such. Poisson regression analyses were conducted to identify the difference in likelihood of finding supermarkets in a tract by race-ethnicity, and across the years of interest.  All models controlled for population density.

Results: Across the city, supermarket access diminished greatly after Katrina (IRR=0.57; 95% CI=0.44, 0.73) but has improved since 2007 and returned to pre-storm levels in 2013.  Fewer supermarkets were located in predominantly African-American tracts than in other tracts prior to Hurricane Katrina.  This disparity worsened post-storm, but has improved in subsequent years. By 2013, access to a supermarket remained lower in predominately African-American tracts compared to other tracts, but not significantly so.

Discussion: Findings from this study highlight improvements in geographic access across the city over time, including decreasing disparities in food access.  These findings help build the evidence base to support further food retail expansion, especially in limited access areas.