The Associated Press reportedly found that many grocery stores have avoided opening new stores in high-poverty areas that are devoid of fresh foods, commonly referred to as “food deserts,” despite commitments made to Michelle Obama’s healthy eating initiative to open 1500 grocery stores in these areas by 2016.
Of the 10,300 stores opened in food deserts by the nation’s top 75 food retailers, only about 250 of them were supermarkets selling fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. Two-thirds of the new stores opened in these areas were discount stores.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers a neighborhood a food desert if at least 20 percent of its residents live in poverty and, in urban areas, if at least one-third of the citizens live more than a mile from a supermarket or, in rural areas, live more than 10 miles away from one.