The Effects of Mealtime Behaviors and Beliefs on Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Food Deserts

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to identify the effects of mealtime habits, knowledge, and skills on fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) consumption in food deserts. A survey of 1200 respondents was conducted in food deserts across three metropolitan areas in north Florida. Planning meals around meat, lack of cooking skills, viewing vegetables as luxury items, and other incomplete skills, lack of knowledge, or negative mealtime habits resulted in lower consumption of FFV, even when controlling for access. Our results underscore the importance of an approach to food security that emphasizes both nutrition education and improving access in food deserts.

KEYWORDS:

• Food security
• food desert
• access
• built environment
• nutrition education

Acknowledgments

We would like to extend our appreciation to our fellow researchers and administrative staff at the University of Florida Family Nutrition Program for bringing us on-board for this project.  Also, a special thank you to the field interviewers who assisted us in implementing our survey. Finally, thank you to the staff of the Florida Survey Research Center, including Janet Heffner, Caitlin McElroy, and Dayna Galganski, whose assistance was invaluable in pushing this research forward.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1. The sampling frame for this research design was households utilizing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or households that were SNAP eligible, residing in census tracts labeled by the USDA as food deserts in and around the Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Orlando metropolitan areas. According to the commonly accepted USDA definition, food deserts are any census tract with a poverty rate of 20% or greater or a median family income at or below 80% of the area median family income, and at least 500 individuals, or one third of the census tract’s population, residing more than one mile from a supermarket or grocery store. Twenty-nine census tracts in and around Jacksonville, 11 tracts in and around Gainesville, and 22 tracts in and around Orlando met the criteria.

2. The survey instrument was extensively field tested prior to the study. Pretesting is conducted by an experienced survey supervisor. The supervisor administers the survey and carefully listens to the response to identify any terms that are not clear, difficult transitions, and other issues. The respondent is then debriefed to further identify any problems with the survey language, measurement or transitions. This instrument is then revised to correct any issues of concerns. This process is repeated until all issues or problems are corrected. Survey questions regarding food security and access were drawn from the Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, which have been established as “stable, robust, and reliable” measurements (see: https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/FSGuide.pdf).

3. One of the metrics USDA uses to gauge access to healthy foods is car ownership. While it is possible to make an argument that this is not a particularly useful measure of access, due to the relative lack of access to public transportation in the communities we studied, owning reliable motorized transportation that allows the respondent to have autonomous access to full-service supermarkets is a valid proxy of access to fresh foods. For more information on this measure see Ers.usda.gov. (2018). USDA ERS – Go to the Atlas. [online] Available at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/[Accessed 21 Aug. 2018].

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Florida Department of Children and Families (Grant # LF907)