Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026
05:49
Tracking Microbial Contamination in Retail Environments Using Fluorescent Powder - A Retail Delicatessen Environment Example
Published on: March 5, 2014
Local food environments: they're all stocked differently
1College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, DeSaussure Hall, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. darcy.freedman@sc.edu
American Journal of Community Psychology
|October 20, 2009
Summary
Local food environments reflect social hierarchies, impacting public health. Access to healthy food is limited, with stores prioritizing non-food items over produce.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Sociology
- Urban Planning
Background:
- The obesity epidemic necessitates research into local food environments' impact on health.
- Existing research on food environments needs to explore community members' perceived food accessibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate community members' perceptions of food accessibility within their local food environments.
- To analyze the relationship between the types of food stores, their offerings, and perceived accessibility.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-methods approach combining food store audits and one-on-one interviews.
- Analysis of data from three distinct research sites to capture varied community contexts.
Main Results:
- Most food stores were convenience or non-chain grocery stores, not perceived as "real" food sources by residents.
- Tobacco and alcohol products were more prevalent than fresh produce or milk in surveyed stores.
- Food access and store offerings varied significantly by site, reflecting targeted appeals to specific demographics (race, class, gender) and environments.
Conclusions:
- Local food environments mirror existing social hierarchies, influencing health outcomes.
- Understanding the "politics of space" within food environments is crucial for public health initiatives.
More Related Videos
07:19Compost Microcosms as Microbially Diverse, Natural-like Environments for Microbiome Research in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: September 13, 2022
07:56A Set of In Situ Informed Simulated Medium Formats for Culturing Environmentally Acquired Anaerobic Microorganisms
Published on: January 12, 2024
Related Concept Videos
01:22Microenvironments
Microorganisms inhabit highly localized spaces known as microenvironments, which are defined by distinct physical and chemical characteristics. These include oxygen concentration, pH, temperature, light availability, and nutrient levels. The conditions within a microenvironment can differ markedly from those in the surrounding area and significantly influence microbial growth, metabolism, and community structure.Microenvironments often display sharp physicochemical gradients over small spatial...
00:48Optimal Foraging
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
02:02Ecological Niches
All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.Multiple species cannot occupy the exact same niche within their habitat. If the niches of two or more species overlap to a large extent, the competitive exclusion principle dictates that one species will outcompete the other, forcing it to...
01:24Freshwater Microbial Ecology
Freshwater systems such as streams, rivers, and lakes exhibit distinct physical and biological characteristics that influence their microbial communities. These environments are broadly categorized into lotic systems—those with flowing waters like streams and most rivers—and lentic systems, which include still or slow-moving waters such as lakes, ponds, and marshes.In lentic systems, phytoplankton drive primary production, generating autochthonous organic carbon. In contrast, lotic systems...
01:29Sources of Food Contamination
Contamination of food by microbial agents and natural toxins poses significant risks to public health. These hazards can be introduced at various points across the food supply chain, ranging from environmental sources to processing and storage stages. Understanding these contamination pathways is critical for developing strategies to ensure food safety.Seafood is particularly vulnerable to contamination through both environmental exposure and microbial colonization. Toxins from harmful algal...
01:29Microbes in Food Production
Microbial fermentation is central to food biotechnology, enhancing flavor, texture, preservation, and stability. Fermentative microorganisms metabolize carbohydrates into organic acids, alcohols, and other metabolites that inhibit spoilage organisms and improve digestibility while contributing distinctive sensory qualities.In baking, amylases naturally present in flour hydrolyze starch into monosaccharides such as glucose, which Saccharomyces cerevisiae ferments anaerobically. Through...