In the majority of cases, initial feedback revealed little amount of awareness of the issue of food poverty / food deserts. Whilst concern for issues such as obesity and the need to eat ‘five a day’ figured highly, awareness of food poverty / food deserts appeared to be less widespread. The issue was further complicated by the varying definitions and / or perceptions of what constituted food poverty. For example, one contact regarded food poverty as being the lack of nutrients in a person’s diet, whereas others defined it as lack of access to healthy food. Nevertheless, in the areas where awareness of food poverty / food deserts was high, the issue is being investigated / researched in a robust and thorough manner.

This paper provides an introduction to the 'food deserts' theme by outlining how the problem of access to food, particularly foods integral to a healthy diet, for low-income households in poor neighbourhoods in British cities, became an increasingly important issue in the social exclusion and health inequalities debates, during the late 1990s. It documents the emergence of a policy response by UK government to this issue and the way in which policy development ran somewhat ahead of systematic research on key facets of the problem. The paper outlines the research priorities which became apparent by the end of the 1990s and some of the projects which have been funded by the UK research councils and by government departments and agencies to meet this need for fundamental research.

National research conducted by Harper Adams University College, Shropshire has identified that many areas in the UK have become ‘Food Deserts’. By mapping the location of supermarkets and smaller grocery stores and determining whether they stocked ten or more different types of fruit and vegetable Dr Hillary Shaw, Senior Lecturer at the University College has identified a trend which has proven negative dietary, health and economic implications for local residents.

Food deserts have been described as areas where people experience physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy food. Everyone should have access to healthy foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, however, this is not always the case and a food desert can quickly develop. It is recommended that residents should not have to walk any more than 500m to a shop that sells healthy foods. In many cases Dr Shaw’s research identified that there are stores but they sell little or no fresh food.

...neither USDA nor the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has been able to establish a causal link between food deserts and dietary health. In fact, both agree that merely improving access to healthy food does not change consumer behaviour. Open a full-service supermarket in a food desert and shoppers tend to buy the same artery-clogging junk food as before—they just pay less for it.

The unpalatable truth seems to be that some Americans simply do not care to eat a balanced diet, while others, increasingly, cannot afford to. Over the last four years, the price of the healthiest foods has increased at around twice the rate of energy-dense junk food. That is the whole problem, in an organic nutshell.