Urban Food Deserts: Improving the USDA Identification Methodology Through Inclusion of Neighborhood Racial Attributes

Access to healthy food is essential for life and paramount to notions of justice. Neighborhoods without such access are referred to as “food deserts” (FD) and are often eligible for special government programs designed to alleviate the resultant symptoms. While research shows a correlation between FD and neighborhoods predominately comprised of racial minorities, the USDA methodology does not explicitly account for race as a factor in FD identification. We examined the effect of adding racial neighborhood characteristics to the USDA’s methodology. Using geographic information system software, we mapped USDA-identified FD for the four most populous metropolitan statistical areas in Florida (2018) and overlaid racial neighborhood attributes. We found a statistically significant association between neighborhoods with high percentages of minority residents and adjacency to USDA FD. Our findings are consistent with prior studies linking race with FD and enhance the literature by offering a unique and plausible alternative methodology for identifying FD.