A Food Desert is a term that refers to an area or district that has limited access to affordable and nutritious foods required to maintain a healthy diet. A food desert can be in an urban or rural areawhere consumers have difficulty getting to a supermarket without a vehicle or public transportation. Often, low-income and elderly people are most affected by food deserts.
The food desert usually offers little or no access to supermarkets or grocery stores. In urban areas, food deserts may mean no grocery stores yet access to fast food restaurants may be plentiful. Physical access to nutritious foods, in terms of distance to food markets and the availability to local public transportation to reach a food market, is also considered. The term food desert takes into consideration financial access to nutritious fresh foods at affordable prices. If nutritious and affordable foods are not readily available the location is considered a food desert.
In many areas high calorie, high fat, high sugar foods can easily be found at small retail establishments, yet the healthier fresh foods are difficult to afford and find. People with little access to healthy foods are at higher risk for obesity, diabetes, some cancers, and other disease.
Resource links:
http://www.extension.org/pages/Your_Food_Environment_Atlas
http://ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas/
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