Identifying rural food deserts: Methodological considerations for food environment interventions

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Food Systems Research
• Rural Geography

Background:

• Food insecurity affects 13% of Canadian households, linked to poor access to nutritious food.
• Measuring the food environment in rural areas is challenging due to uneven food source distribution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a methodology for identifying food deserts in rural environments.
• To assess the prevalence of rural food deserts considering food quality.

Main Methods:

• In-store evaluations of 25 food products across rural stores in Quebec.
• Assessed food quality using freshness, affordability, diversity, and availability indices.
• Mapped residential access to stores with favorable food quality scores.

Main Results:

• Food deserts were more prevalent when food quality was factored in compared to USDA definitions.
• Objective food environment measurements aligned with regional stakeholder perceptions.

Conclusions:

• Rural food store characteristics necessitate in-store quality assessments for accurate food desert identification.
• Combining objective data with stakeholder knowledge strengthens arguments for policy interventions.