Food Access

Definition

Ability to obtain food and maintain levels of sufficient amounts of healthy, safe, and affordable food for all family members in various settings including where they live, learn, work and play.

Seagrass meadows support global food security

Measuring food access

Food access is often measured by

• distance to a store or the number of stores in an area;
• individual-level resources such as family income or vehicle availability;
• and neighborhood-level indicators of resources, such as average income of the neighborhood and the availability of public transportation. 

Table of food

Consumer choices and food access

Consumer choices about food spending and diet are likely to be influenced by the accessibility and affordability of food retailers—travel time to shopping, availability of healthy foods, and food prices. 

Effect on low income populations

Some people and places, especially those with low income, may face greater barriers in accessing healthy and affordable food retailers, which may negatively affect diet and food security.

External links

Food access research atlas is s a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility, provides food access data for populations within census tracts, and offers census-tract-level data on food access that can be downloaded for community planning or research purposes.

• Food access research atlas

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