Food Deserts of Michigan

Urban or Rural Food Deserts of Michigan

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Urban or Rural Food Deserts of Michigan

Introduction:

In late 1990's policy makers originated a term “Food Desert” in order to explain the neighborhoods prevailing in surroundings with low-income level, having less access to reasonably priced fresh food. When people needs to walk almost 500 meters long way just to have an access any shop from where they can get fresh and healthy food , is another criterion for explaining the term food desert., or we can say that 10-15 minutes' walk is required from a person to get food. In fact the main idea goes far away from how the planning is affecting accessibility to healthy and nutritious food and retailing geographically to unhealthful and inadequate diet. A complicated mixture of these reasons has become apparent that low income has been the real hurdle for the people in taking healthy diet.

Basically food desert is an area where packaged snacks or items of fast food are sold in the stores instead of fresh and healthy food products. (Cummins, 2008)

Food deserts are basically the customs of low income zone where there is comparatively high rate of diabetes diseases and stoutness.

Food deserts generally targets those places, shops or mini marts which carry processed and less healthy low nutritious items, instead of targeting well known and big super markets that carry a huge range of high quality of fresh food. To reach to the areas on foot where fresh food is available and doing this on regular basis by any means of transport is quite costly for most of the people living in food desert region.

During 1960's, system of food retail gave supermarkets a brisk growth in remote locations or in the places where people were not having remarkable access to healthy food. This revolution eventually becomes the cause of reduction in local markets and shops which were initially providing food supplies. But it was not favorable for the neighborhood because they were supposed to buy food at high prices, reason being the local shops and markets were competing with the supermarkets so they put high prices of the related food items. (Kyle, and Blair, 2007)

Studies have investigated in the United States that if there is a relation between social elimination and provision of retail food, taking unhealthy diet and poor health, which helped in explaining if there any food deserts exists or not, but if they are, than how it can be challenged.

Some of the policy makers are considering retail led intrusion as an elucidation of the issues regarding food access in rural and urban areas. Though the indications of the research findings varied with reference to the advantages of opening up the supermarkets in far away locations or deserted areas. For instance owning a car is very important in selecting store to get food, and for carrying out shopping and storage space for food is still the hurdle in approaching supermarkets for the people living with low income level.

Methodology

Socio-Economic Development:

Some ...