Food Deserts in Dundee

Abstract

The poor health of Scots is sometimes linked to poor diet, especially a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. However, this lack may itself be linked to accessibility issues. In recent years, shops selling ‘healthy’ food, such as large superstores, have tended to relocate to edge-of-town locations, which are very accessible to car users but difficult for others. The term ‘food desert’ is often applied to inner cities when they have few or no food shops, or at least few shops selling healthy food. This paper describes a project intended to evaluate the applicability of the food desert concept to Dundee, Scotland's fourth largest city (2001 population 145,663), located on the Tay estuary in East Central Scotland. A postal survey was conducted in Dundee in the summer of 2009. It collected information on consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, and of other supposedly healthy (or unhealthy) foods, the retail outlets most often used for food purchases, the mode and duration of food shopping trips, and whether respondents found it easy or difficult to shop for healthy food. Although the response rate in some zones was poor, it is possible to identify some clear trends in the data. The failure of 81% of respondents to eat the recommended five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables per day confirms that dietary choices are problematic for Dundonians. The sample overall showed that the majority of food shoppers went by car, and that journeys seldom lasted more than 20minutes. Very few respondents said that they found shopping trips difficult. In view of these results, it does not seem appropriate to describe Dundee as a food desert, though many individuals may settle for a less healthy diet because of difficulties in gaining access to more healthy foods. Dundee may be too small to be a food desert. Residents in all our survey areas are within easy reach of at least one superstore. However, the lack of support for the ‘food desert’ metaphor should not be interpreted as meaning that nobody experiences problems of accessibility to healthy food, nor that individuals' illnesses should be blamed on their poor food choices.