By: Serenity Anderson, Follow South Jersey Intern
SOUTH JERSEY – Food insecurity is a prevalent issue in the United States. Around 47 million Americans are struggling with food insecurity, with 14 million of that statistic being children. This means that 1 in 5 children nationwide do not have access to nutritious food options. Many experience inconsistent food patterns, skipping meals at a time, and face developmental issues due to a lack of healthy foods.
Disproportionately affected are minorities, particularly Black and Hispanic people who, according to the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, struggle at 20% (Black/African American households) and 16% (Hispanic/Latino households) compared to their white counterparts at 7%.
The largest perpetrator of hunger in the U.S. is poverty.
A byproduct of redlining – when financial services are withheld from areas with larger percentages of racial and ethnic minorities – many of these low-income areas are subjected to being what are now labeled as food deserts.
First gaining popularity in 1990s Scotland, the term food desert was officially recognized in 2008 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which defines food desert as “[an] area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower-income neighborhoods and communities.”
The Humane League, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about animal cruelty in the U.S. food industry, highlights two types of food deserts:
- low-income rural areas that live more than ten miles from the nearest grocery store
- low-income urban areas where a large amount of people live further than a mile away from the nearest store.
In focusing on highly populated urban areas, food swamps are a culprit of health disparities among low-income people of color within the United States. Food swamps exist when areas are oversaturated with unhealthy food options where often a liquor store or fast food joint will stand in place of a local grocery store.
Because of the complex and often vague connotation “food desert” gives, some are calling for a more accurate term to explain the inequitable condition of these areas: food apartheid.
In an article on the National Resources Defense Council news, advocate for food waste and food systems, Nina Sevilla argues that food deserts don’t paint an accurate picture of the issue. She states, “Using the term desert implies that the lack of healthy and affordable food is somehow naturally occurring and obscures that it is the direct result of racially discriminatory policies and systematic disinvestment in these communities.”
New Jersey is no stranger to the concept of food deserts.
As of 2022, 10.7% of the New Jersey population (which is 994,800 people) experience food insecurity. The South Jersey areas most effected by food deserts are South Camden, Atlantic City, Camden East/Pennsauken, Salem, and Bridgeton areas with limited access to supermarkets to buy healthy foods.
Most affected by this are the elderly and children who are more vulnerable to food insecurity. According to the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, children are affected both physically (stunted growth, slower healing processes, compromised immune systems, and higher chance of breaking or fracturing bones) and mentally (slower brain development, increased chances of depression, shorter attention spans, and lower IQs later in life).
Some researchers, however, suggest that access to healthy food may not be the problem, but (lack of) health education is to blame.
In a Stanford research study looking at the causes of nutritional inequalities, researchers found that even with access to healthier food options, many people from these environments still sought out unhealthy options for food.
There are many gaps in research in the deciding factor of what promotes inequalities and access to healthy food options. What is known, however, are the real people effected by food deserts everyday.
Despite the odds food deserts bring for these areas, many are igniting change and implementing solutions to combat these disparities. With food pantries and soup kitchens, food banks, and community gardens, many cities and counties within New Jersey are striving, together, to better their living environment.
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