TY - JOUR
T1 - Healthy food retail during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - Challenges and future directions
AU - Leone, Lucia A.
AU - Fleischhacker, Sheila
AU - Anderson-Steeves, Betsy
AU - Harper, Kaitlyn
AU - Winkler, Megan
AU - Racine, Elizabeth
AU - Baquero, Barbara
AU - Gittelsohn, Joel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/10/2
Y1 - 2020/10/2
N2 - Disparities in dietary behaviors have been directly linked to the food environment, including access to retail food outlets. The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to major changes in the distribution, sale, purchase, preparation, and consumption of food in the United States (US). This paper reflects on those changes and provides recommendations for research to understand the impact of the pandemic on the retail food environment (RFE) and consumer behavior. Using the Retail Food Environment and Customer Interaction Model, we describe the impact of COVID-19 in four key areas: (1) community, state, tribal, and federal policy; (2) retail actors, business models, and sources; (3) customer experiences; and (4) dietary intake. We discuss how previously existing vulnerabilities and inequalities based on race, ethnicity, class, and geographic location were worsened by the pandemic. We recommend approaches for building a more just and equitable RFE, including understanding the impacts of changing shopping behaviors and adaptations to federal nutrition assistance as well as how small food business can be made more sustainable. By better understanding the RFE adaptations that have characterized the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope to gain greater insight into how our food system can become more resilient in the future.
AB - Disparities in dietary behaviors have been directly linked to the food environment, including access to retail food outlets. The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to major changes in the distribution, sale, purchase, preparation, and consumption of food in the United States (US). This paper reflects on those changes and provides recommendations for research to understand the impact of the pandemic on the retail food environment (RFE) and consumer behavior. Using the Retail Food Environment and Customer Interaction Model, we describe the impact of COVID-19 in four key areas: (1) community, state, tribal, and federal policy; (2) retail actors, business models, and sources; (3) customer experiences; and (4) dietary intake. We discuss how previously existing vulnerabilities and inequalities based on race, ethnicity, class, and geographic location were worsened by the pandemic. We recommend approaches for building a more just and equitable RFE, including understanding the impacts of changing shopping behaviors and adaptations to federal nutrition assistance as well as how small food business can be made more sustainable. By better understanding the RFE adaptations that have characterized the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope to gain greater insight into how our food system can become more resilient in the future.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Dietary intake
KW - Federal nutrition assistance
KW - Food purchasing
KW - Grocery stores
KW - Restaurants
KW - Retail food environment
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17207397
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17207397
M3 - Article
C2 - 33050600
AN - SCOPUS:85092458074
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - International journal of environmental research and public health
JF - International journal of environmental research and public health
IS - 20
M1 - 7397
ER -