Retail Food Stores Research Articles

A Mixed-methods Study to Understand Food Environments and Grocery Shopping Patterns of Community Residents in Underserved Neighborhoods in Tampa, Florida

ABSTRACT A mixed methods study was conducted to better understand food access, food retail store environment, and perspectives of community residents on their grocery store shopping patterns and access to healthy foods in underserved, predominantly African American neighborhoods. GIS mapping, grocery store observations (n = 4), a food access and grocery store environment survey (n = 126), and focus groups (n = 48) were used. The results indicate that these neighborhoods have a low density of grocery stores, and only two out of four grocery stores meet the standard for a healthy retail store. Barriers to getting healthy foods and solutions to improve food access are discussed.

Associations between shopping patterns, dietary behaviours and geographic information system-assessed store accessibility among small food store customers.

To examine associations between geographic information systems (GIS)-assessed accessibility to small food stores, shopping patterns and dietary behaviours among small food store customers. Residential addresses and customer shopping patterns (frequency of shopping, and previous purchase of fruits and vegetables) were gathered through customer intercept surveys. Addresses were geocoded, and GIS-assessed distance and driving time from the participants' residence to the store were calculated. Dietary status and behaviours were assessed using an objective non-invasive measure of skin carotenoids, the National Cancer Institute Fruit and Vegetable Screener, and items to assess sugary beverage intake. Associations between distance and driving time, demographics, shopping frequency, prior reported purchase of fruits and vegetables at the store and dietary behaviours were examined. Small food stores (n 22) across North Carolina. Cross-sectional convenience samples of English-speaking customers aged 18 years or older (n 692). Participants living closer to the small store had lower income and formal education, were more likely to be Black, more likely to have previously bought fruits and vegetables at the store and more frequently shopped at the store. In adjusted models, skin carotenoids (n 644) were positively associated with distance to the store from home in miles (P = 0·01). Customers who lived closer to the stores were more frequent shoppers and more likely to have previously purchased fruits and vegetables at the store yet had lower skin carotenoids. These results support continued efforts to examine how to increase the availability and promotion of healthful foods at small food retail stores.

Obesity and Hunger Threaten the Foundations of Child Health

Obesity and Hunger Threaten the Foundations of Child Health

The Retail Food Environment, Store Foods, and Diet and Health among Indigenous Populations: a Scoping Review.

Describe the state of knowledge on how the retail food environment contributes to diet-related health and obesity among Indigenous populations, and assess how the literature incorporates Indigenous perspectives, methodologies and engagement throughout the research process. Outcomes included dietary behaviour (purchasing, intakes and diet quality) and diet-related health outcomes (weight-related outcomes, non-communicable diseases and holistic health or definitions of health as defined by Indigenous populations involved in the study). Of fifty included articles (1996-2019), the largest proportions described Indigenous communities in Canada (20 studies, 40%), the USA (16, 32%) and Australia (9, 18%). Among articles that specified the Indigenous population of focus (42 studies, 84%), the largest proportion (11 studies, 26%) took place in Inuit communities, followed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (8 studies, 19%). The included literature encompassed four main study designs: type A, dietary intakes of store foods (14 studies, 28%), and type B, store food environments (16, 32%), comprised the greatest proportion of articles; the remainder were type C, store food environments and diet (7, 14%), and type D, store food environment interventions (13, 26%). Of the studies that assessed diet or health outcomes (36, 72%), 22 (61%) assessed dietary intakes; 16 (44%) sales/purchasing; and 8 (22%) weight-related outcomes. Store foods tended to contribute the greatest amount of dietary energy to the diets of Indigenous peoples and increased non-communicable disease risk as compared to traditional foods. Multi-pronged interventions appeared to have positive impacts on dietary behaviours, food purchasing and nutrition knowledge; promotion and nutrition education alone had more mixed effects. Of the nine studies which were found to have strong engagement with Indigenous populations, eight had moderate or high methodological quality. Eighteen studies (36%) did not mention any engagement with Indigenous populations. The literature confirmed the importance of store foods to the total energy intake of the contemporary diets of Indigenous people, the gaps in accessing both retail food environments and traditional foods and the potential for both new dietary assessment research and retail food environment intervention strategies to better align with and privilege Indigenous Ways of Knowing.

Impact of a sweetened beverage tax on beverage prices in Seattle, WA

Seattle’s Sweetened Beverage Tax is an excise tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages and is one of the highest beverage taxes in the U.S. This study examined the impact of Seattle’s tax on the prices of beverages. We conducted audits of 407 retail food stores and eating places (quick service restaurants and coffee shops) before and 6 months after the tax was implemented in Seattle and in a comparison area. Ordinary least squares difference-in-differences models with store fixed effects were used to estimate the effect of the tax on prices, stratified by beverage type and store type. In secondary analyses, we assessed the effect of the tax on the price of non-taxed beverages and foods. Results from the adjusted difference-in-differences models indicated the tax was associated with an average increase of 1.58 cents per ounce among Seattle retailers, representing 90 % of the price of the tax. By store type, price increases were highest in smaller grocery stores and drug stores. By beverage type, price increases were highest for energy beverages and soda and lowest for bottled coffee and juice drinks. Prices of some non-taxed beverages also increased while the prices of select healthy foods generally did not. The sweetened beverage tax in Seattle is higher than beverage taxes in most other cities, and nearly the full cost of the tax is being passed through to consumers for many beverage types and stores types.

P89 Grocery Store Observations Using the CX3 Tool in Underserved Neighborhoods in Tampa, FL

<h3>Background</h3> Consumers' food choices can be influenced by food availability, marketing/advertisements, and interior/exterior infrastructure of food retail stores. Furthermore, there is a lack of representation of diverse population groups in previous retail store studies, especially studies conducted in low-income, ethnic minority communities. <h3>Objective</h3> To assess food availability, quality, price, and interior/exterior marketing of healthy and unhealthy foods in neighborhood stores using systematic observations. <h3>Study Design, Setting, Participants</h3> A cross-sectional observation study. Trained research staff visited 4 food retail stores identified in low-income, predominantly African American neighborhoods in Tampa, Florida. <h3>Measurable Outcome/Analysis</h3> Two observers conducted an inter-observer reliability test. The store observation was rated on a 100-point scale based on the CX3 (Communities of Excellence in Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention) observation form developed and validated by the California Department of Health. Food availability, quality, price, interior and exterior marketing/advertisements were measured. To meet healthy retail store standards, the total score should be equal to or greater than 75. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. <h3>Results</h3> The mean total score was 71.6, which did not meet the healthy retail store standard score of 75. Two stores reached over 75 points (76.5 and 77.5) and the other 2 stores received a score of 63.0 and 69.5 points. All 4 stores met the standard for providing a wide range and quality of good fruit and vegetables, but 2 stores did not meet the standard for price of fruit and vegetables based on <10% of the county average. Two stores met the standard for availability of other healthy foods and exterior marketing/advertisements. No store met the standard for interior marketing/advertisement. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Although a variety of fruit and vegetables was available, the prices of fresh produce was relatively expensive. Each store had its strengths and weaknesses as a healthy food retail store. Tailored intervention strategies can be recommended for each store including healthy food marketing/advertisements within and outside of the store.

Field-based Analyses on Approach Temperatures for Performance Evaluation of Centralized Air Conditioning System in a Shopping Mall Building

This paper presents field analyses on the influences of condenser and evaporator approach temperatures of water cooled air conditioning system for a shopping mall. The mall building comprises food and non-food retail stores and uses a centralized air conditioning (AC) system to condition the entire building. The AC system comprises three chillers with the same cooling capacity. Chillers’ performance parameters included power consumption, condensing and evaporating temperatures, evaporator-condenser approach temperatures, pressure drop and cooling capacity parameters were hourly recorded for a period of one year. Performance characteristics of each chiller were evaluated at different condenser and evaporator approach temperatures and regression analyses were also established to examine the correlations and influences of the approach temperatures on the chillers’ performance. The analyses results showed that the increase of condenser approach temperature could increase the power consumption and reduce the coefficient of performance (COP) of the chillers. While evaporator approach temperature was found to have insignificant effect to the chiller performance. The results also showed that for the investigated chillers with condenser and evaporator approach temperatures maintained below 2 K, the approach temperatures had negligible correlation to the power consumption and the overall performance of the chillers. At this operational conditions, the water cooled air conditioning systems could operate at their best possible performance.

Using geographic information systems to characterize food environments around historically black colleges and universities: Implications for nutrition interventions

Objective To understand the distribution of healthy and unhealthy food stores near historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Participants and methods: Using ArcGIS Pro’s network analysis tools and ReferenceUSA database, this study characterized the healthy (favorable) and unhealthy (unfavorable) retail food stores within a 5-mile radius, 15-min driving, and 15-min walking distance from each HBCU in North Carolina. Results: Most retail food stores within a 5-mile buffer radius of the 10 HBCUs in North Carolina were unfavorable. Within 15-min driving from each HBCU, 1082 stores (76.0%) were unfavorable food stores, while 332 (24.0%) were favorable. Additionally, there were four favorable and 35 unfavorable retail food stores within the 15-min walking distance of each HBCU. Conclusions: Favorable food retail stores around HBCUs in North Carolina are limited. Researchers, policy makers, and community stakeholders should work together to improve food environments surrounding HBCUs.

Small food store retailers' views on healthy food retail policy in response to a local staple foods ordinance.

Our objectives were to explore attitudes regarding food retail policy and government regulation among managers of small food stores and examine whether manager views changed due to the 2014 Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance, a city policy requiring retailers to stock specific healthy products. Manager interviewer-administered surveys were used to assess views on food retail policy four times from 2014 to 2017. We examined baseline views across manager and storeand neighbourhood characteristics using cross-sectional regression analyses and examined changes over time using mixed regression models. In 2017, open-ended survey questions asked about manager insights on the Minneapolis Staple Foods Ordinance. Minneapolis, MN, where the ordinance was enacted, and St. Paul, MN, a control community, USA. Managers from 147 small food retail stores. At baseline, 48 % of managers were likely to support a policy requiring stores to stock healthy foods/beverages, 67·5 % of managers were likely to support voluntary programmes to help retailers stock healthy foods and 23·7 % agreed government regulation of business is good/necessary. There was a significant increase in overall support for food retail policies and voluntary programmes from 2014 to 2017 (P < 0·01); however, neither increase differed by city, suggesting no differential impact from the ordinance. Minneapolis store managers reported some challenges with ordinance compliance and offered suggestions for how local government could provide support. Findings suggest that managers of small food retail stores are becoming increasingly amenable to healthy food policies; yet, challenges need to be addressed to ensure healthy food is available to all customers.

A systematic review of the influences of food store product placement on dietary-related outcomes.

ContextProduct placement strategies have been used to influence customers’ food purchases in food stores for some time; however, assessment of the evidence that these techniques can limit unhealthy, and promote healthy, food choices has not been completed.ObjectiveThis systematic review aimed to determine how product placement strategies, availability, and positioning, in physical retail food stores located in high-income countries, influence dietary-related behaviors.Data SourcesFrom a search of 9 databases, 38 articles, 17 observational studies, and 22 intervention studies met the study inclusion criteria.Data ExtractionTwo reviewers independently extracted data relating to study design, study population, exposures, outcomes, and key results. Each study was also assessed for risk of bias in relation to the research question.Data AnalysisMeta-analysis was not possible owing to heterogeneous study designs and outcomes. As recommended by Cochrane, results were synthesized in effect direction plots using a vote-counting technique which recorded the direction of effect and significance level according to the expected relationship for health improvement.ConclusionsThe majority of studies showed that greater availability and more prominent positioning of healthy foods, or reduced availability and less prominent positioning of unhealthy foods, related to better dietary-related behaviors. A large number of results, however, were nonsignificant, which likely reflects the methodological difficulties inherent in this research field. Adequately powered intervention studies that test both the independent and additive effects of availability and positioning strategies are needed.Systematic Review RegistrationPROSPERO registration no. 42016048826

Exploring Accessibility of Culturally Relevant Foods in a Low-Income Neighborhood in Baltimore City

Abstract Objectives Culturally relevant foods (CRF) are food items that hold significance for a particular culture or subcultural group. Improving access to healthy CRF may be important for improving diets of minority populations, who are disproportionately affected by poor diet quality, obesity, and chronic disease. However, few studies have carefully identified CRF and evaluated their availability in retail stores. The present study aimed to (1) identify culturally relevant foods for African Americans living in Northeast Baltimore; and (2) examine access to the identified CRF at community food retail stores. Methods Free listing activities were conducted for 20 adult African American participants that live in Northeast Baltimore to identify CRF, frequency of consumption, and typical purchasing location. Smith's S saliency scores were calculated for each item and location using the AnthroTools package. An environmental checklist was used to determine accessibility of the 16 most salient items at the five most salient locations—Giant, DMG Foods (a small community grocery store in Baltimore), Safeway, Aldi, and Family Dollar. Each location was visited four times to account for price fluctuations and item availability. Availability scores were calculated for each location. Results One hundred and forty-five items were mentioned by participants in the free listing activity. Of these, chicken/fried chicken (S = 0.40) and greens/collard greens (S = 0.30) had the highest saliency scores and were mentioned by over 50% of participants. Other highly salient items included shrimp (S = 0.27), steak (S = 0.17), salad (S = 0.14), tomatoes (S = 0.13), and spaghetti (S = 0.13). Giant and Safeway had the highest availability scores (94%), followed by DMG Foods (69%) Aldi (56%), and Family Dollar (13%). Conclusions This study showed that CRF for adult African Americans living in Baltimore are widely available in large food retail stores, but only moderately available in medium sized grocery stores, and sparsely available in dollar stores. Future analyses will examine variability of stores by depth of stock, placement, and price of CRF. Funding Sources Urban Health Institute Small Grants Program.

Customer trait profiling: A conceptual framework for lifestyle marketing in food retail

The role of the multicultural food marketer is to maximise the effectiveness of the customer-reaching product marketing mix (price, product, place and promotion) in as efficient and effective a manner as possible, while also paying attention to those cultural differences apparent between, for example, Hispanics, African Americans and Asians. To simplify the ability of the food retailer to reach the target customers, the most common method employed by food retailers has been the use of store volume and geographical location. As the makeup of the US population continues to evolve, the need to understand customer lifestyles is greater than ever. Geography will not define a population, and will not maximise sales in food retail stores. This study offers a conceptual framework that utilises customer lifestyle profiling to merchandise and market inside a food retail chain. The paper argues that assortment and promotional allocation should be based on more than simply store volume and geographic location, and that food retailers should assign more importance to lifestyle traits.

Neighborhood food environment and consumption of fruit and leafy vegetables: Pro-Saude Study, Brazil

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between availability of different types of retail food stores and consumption of fruit and leafy vegetables. Study designThis study is a cross-sectional study. MethodsData were derived from 2032 adults living in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, participating in the longitudinal Pro-Saude Study. Exposure to street markets, fruit and vegetable stores, groceries and markets, unhealthy food outlets, restaurants, and supermarkets within 1600 m buffers was obtained by georeferencing residential addresses. Consumption of fruit and leafy vegetables was assessed via two single questions, categorized as ‘yes’ (≥4 days/week) and ‘no’ (<3 days/week). Multiple logistic regression models were used to assess relationships of interest adjusted for surrounding average monthly income, sex, age, education, and family income per capita. ResultsExcept for supermarkets, the presence of a greater number of retail food stores – irrespective of the type – was associated with higher odds of consumption of fruit and leafy vegetables than with areas with a lower number (e.g. odds ratio = 1.47; 95% confidence interval = 1.13–1.91). ConclusionsThe greater availability of several types of retail food stores close to participants’ residences was associated with higher consumption of fruit and leafy vegetables in Rio de Janeiro.

Differences in Differentiation: Rising Variety and Markups in Retail Food Stores

In this paper I show that consumers in food stores and supermarkets/hypermarkets became significantly less price sensitive between 2006 and 2017. At the median, across thousands of stores and products in nine large categories, estimated own-price elasticities have declined by 25% over this period. I argue that these changes are likely due in part to improved supply chain management, which has led stores to offer a larger variety of goods which better match consumers’ individual preferences. I show that newer products are indeed more “niche” in this sense, and that other potential sources of rising differentiation including increases in quality and changes in consumer wealth play a smaller role. Markups implied by a monopolistic pricing rule suggest that the observed rise in differentiation was large enough to generate significant increases in firms’ markups absent any changes in pricing behavior or competition.

Does profit sharing enhance productivity: evidence from the retail food industry in Canada

In this paper, we provide further support for using profit sharing to enhance productivity and profitability from the retail food industry in Canada. The overall gross profit percentage (GP%) of a retail store was used as a measure of productivity and profitability for the store. In addition, and as another measure of productivity, the study compared the performance of one of the most sensitive departments in a food retail store, and that is the GP% of the produce department. Results show that the overall actual GP% of the studied location has increased by 1.74% in the first quarter of using profit sharing, when compared with the previous quarter. Results also show an actual GP% increase of 1.12% for the profit sharing quarter when compared with the previous year that preceded the shift to profit sharing compensation system.

Presence of genes encoding enterotoxins in Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from food, food establishment surfaces and cases of foodborne diseases.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to describe the microbiological characteristics and profile of genes encoding enterotoxins in 95 Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained between April 2011 and December 2014 from foodstuffs, persons and surfaces of retail food stores. After microbiological identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were performed, targeting sea, seb, sec, sed and see genes that code for classical enterotoxins (ET) A-E, and three additional genes: seg , seh and sei , coding for so-called “new enterotoxins” G, H and I. The isolates were characterized by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), and five selected isolates were further analyzed through Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST). It is noteworthy that 54.7% of the examined isolates harbored one or more of the investigated ET gene types. Most positive isolates carried more than one ET gene up to five types; seg was the most frequent ET gene, followed by sei. Five enterotoxin-coding isolates also coded for some antimicrobial resistance genes. Two of them, and four additional non-enterotoxic isolates carried erm genes expressing inducible clindamycin resistance. PFGE-types were numerous and diverse, even among enterotoxin-coding strains, because most isolates did not belong to known foodborne outbreaks and the sampling period was long. MLST profiles were also varied, and a new ST 3840 was described within this species. ST 88 and ST 72 enterotoxin-coding isolates have been identified in other regions in association with foodborne outbreaks. This manuscript reports the first systematic investigation of enterotoxin genes in S. aureus isolates obtained from foodstuffs and infected people in Uruguay.

Adoption and Reach of a statewide policy, systems, and environment intervention to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in West Virginia.

Food deserts-areas with limited access to affordable, healthy foods-are disproportionately in low-income areas of the USA and have been linked with poorer nutrition behaviors and health outcomes. From a social ecological perspective, increasing access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in communities should encourage consumption and health improvements. Change the Future West Virginia, a statewide intervention, was undertaken to make policy, system, and environment (PSE) changes to enhance access to fresh fruits and vegetables in schools, farmers markets, and retail food outlets. Previous local scale PSE change interventions have shown feasibility and population reach, but broader dissemination has not been evaluated. Thus, the purpose was to evaluate the Adoption and Reach of Change the Future West Virginia statewide nutrition-based PSE strategies, especially in food deserts. Evaluation data were collected monthly using an online performance monitoring tool, including open-ended items to assess barriers and facilitators of PSE changes. Schools from 48 of 55 counties with 261,829 enrollment (54% low-income) implemented 231 PSE activities, resulting in 35 counties serving locally produced foods. Adoption included two thirds (n = 82) of all farmers markets in the state-signed collaboration agreements, adding electronic benefit transfer machines at 29. Retail food Adoption included signed agreements with 22.1% (n = 101) of all grocery stores and 14.1% (n = 162) of all convenience stores in the state reaching 110,258 people (21.5%) in 27 food desert census tracts. Personnel consistency, local connections, and in-person meetings were important for PSE changes, highlighting the importance of human resources in the rural public health system and the potential of these intervention activities in rural, low-income states.

The effect of fatty acid profile on the stability of non-traditional and traditional plant oils

&#x0D; The effect of fatty acid composition on the autoxidation of selected plant oils (rapeseed (canola) oil, corn oil, frying oil, grapeseed oil, pomace olive oil, rice bran oil, sunflower oil and high oleic sunflower oil) during their storage was studied. Oils were purchased in retail food stores. Oxidative stability of plant oils was monitored during the storage under the Schaal test conditions at 60 °C in 100 mL beakers and the dark for 40 days. The weight changes, the peroxide and acid values were analysed during the storage. Changes in the composition of fatty acids were analyzed by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results obtained by monitoring the weight changes of oils correlated with their peroxide values. The induction period in case of grapeseed and sunflower oils was 27 and 28 days respectively. The induction period for frying and rapeseed oils were around 35 days. The remaining four oils had induction periods over 40 days. The acid values at the end of experiment correspond to both the relative weight gain and the the peroxide values. The stability of oils depended mainly on the degree of fatty acids unsaturation. A strong negative correlation between oleic acid content and oil stability expressed as the peroxide value was found. The significant positive correlation was found in case of linoleic acid. The relative content of polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased during the storage while the content of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids increased. The highest relative increase in oleic acid was found at the least stable oils, grapeseed and sunflower oils, by 37.5% and 25.3% respectively. The initial content of free fatty acids monitored by the acid value did not affect the oxidation rate. With consideration to all monitored parameters the grapeseed and the sunflower oils were the least stable. The most stable ones were olive pomace and high oleic sunflower oils.&#x0D; &#x0D;

A ground-up approach to estimate the likelihood of business interruption

Critical infrastructure (such as transportation, water, electric power, wastewater, and telecommunications) provides the conveyance of goods, services, and resources to communities, which are vital for economic activities. Buildings, bridges, and other structures and components of the infrastructure might be subject to natural and anthropogenic hazards, which may lead to a reduction or loss of functionality of infrastructure. Businesses may experience disruptions because of (i) direct damage to the business properties and facilities, (ii) reduction or loss of functionality of the supporting critical infrastructure, or (iii) impact on social systems affecting the availability of the workforce at a specific business and supporting businesses as well as customers. Current approaches do not model the functionality of business properties and supporting infrastructure, generally obtaining only empirical estimates of business interruption losses. Such predictions might not be applicable to different businesses, supporting infrastructure, social systems, locations, and hazards; and they would in general not reflect possible changes in the built environment due to mitigation strategies and interventions. This paper proposes a mathematical formulation that overcomes the limitations in the current approaches. The proposed formulation models and quantifies the likelihood of business interruption with a ground-up approach by incorporating the dependency of business operations on physical structures, infrastructure and social systems. The paper illustrates the proposed formulation by investigating the business interruption of an example food retail store in Seaside, Oregon subject to a seismic hazard.

Studies on food safety of melon in its food supply chain

Food safety is an important issue in the food supply chain and food trad. Since unsafe food will cause serious health problems. Melons may contaminate with bacteria, viruses or parasites. Findings of studies indicating that pathogens may transfer from the skin to the flesh of the fruit while fruit cutting. Salmonella, Listeria, Norovirus, and E. coli can easily multiply on the flesh which is low in acidity when temperature is ambient. Thus, consumption of melon in the past considered a reason of illness outbreaks. To reduce the possibility of illness, personnel and kitchen hygiene should be strictly considered during the preparation of melons for consumption. So that, it is important to take care of hygienic measure such as sufficiently large and clean working areas, clean hands, clean knives and chopping boards. These apparently simple of hygiene rules are more important since a small dose of pathogens can cause a serious infection and illness. Further, recommending to food retail stores, catering businesses and households to cut up a quantity that they can eat in a serve, and/or can sell within two hours. Households should quickly eat melons after cutting up or put in the refrigerator as quickly as possible. Cut melons which are unrefrigerated for longer time or exposed to direct sun light, should not be eaten. More attention should be given to people who are vulnerable, including, sick persons, elderly as well as small children and pregnant women.