Fruit and vegetable desirability is lower in more rural built food environments of Montana, USA using the Produce Desirability (ProDes) Tool

Food Environment Typology: Advancing an Expanded Definition, Framework, and Methodological Approach for Improved Characterization of Wild, Cultivated, and Built Food Environments toward Sustainable Diets

“…The objectives of this concept paper were addressed on the basis of the following: (1) multiple literature reviews; (2) extensive field observations carrying out food environment research in diverse socio-ecological contexts in low-, middle-, and high-income countries by the study team; (3) interactions with field experts during workshops, symposium, and conferences on the topic of food environments; and (4) classroom experiences teaching graduate students on the topic of food environments. Collectively, our study team has carried out food environment research in a range of low-, middle-, and high-income countries including rural and tribal communities in Asia (China [39][40][41][42][43], India [44][45][46], Nepal [28], and Myanmar [47]), Africa (Kenya [48], Senegal [49], and Tanzania [50]), and North America (Waskaganish, Quebec [51] and Flathead Reservation, Montana [22,36,[52][53][54][55][56]). Our field work in these communities have included mixed-methods to capture the key elements of the food environment types and how consumers interact with those environments.…”

“…For Objective 3, we developed the food environment typology that includes both natural and built food environments through observations of diverse food environments at our study sites coupled with a literature review on food procurement [37,59,[72][73][74]. For Objective 4, we arrived at the multi-faceted methodological approach of measuring food environments with potential tools through a literature review on existing methods used for measuring built food environments [57,[75][76][77][78] along with potential tools we have used during field research measuring wild and cultivated food environments that draw from the fields of anthropology and ethnobiology [22,47,53].…”

“…[76,125] Direct observations of time spent acquiring and preparing foods [126] Perceived time spent acquiring or preparing foods [126][127][128] Time use surveys to examine time spent foraging or preparing foods [126][127][128] Analysis of toxins, bacteria, etc., and adulteration of foods [129] Direct observations of marketing/social marketing (e.g., radio announcements, billboards, etc.) [75,76] Direct observations of labelling [75] [130] Nutrient/phytochemical analysis of foods (direct analysis or using food composition tables) [76,131] Promotion and education material near to food products [75] Physical measurements of shelf space and prominence of specific foods [78] Recall of exposure to marketing/social marketing [132] Sensory surveys [53] Analysis of contaminants or residues present in food sold Assessment of acquisition of local or seasonal foods Direct observations of labels such as "organic", "local", "integrated pest management", "free range", "fair trade", product origin, etc. [133] Direct observations of use of packaging Life cycle assessment of foods [96] Measurement of food losses and waste [134] Surveys to assess farm management practices [135] Sustainable dimensions food environment rating framework [23] Interviews/surveys to assess awareness of product origin, procurement of local or seasonal foods [28,136,137] Color Coding:…”

Intended and Unintended Consequences of a Community-Based Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Dietary Intervention on the Flathead Reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

“…The food environment is the consumer interface of the food system that influences the availability, affordability, convenience, and desirability of foods and, subsequent food choices as well as health outcomes (4,9). A growing body of evidence supports that residents of tribal and rural communities face disparities in their food environments to accessing healthy, affordable, convenient, and desirable foods (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

“…Increasingly, plant-based diets are recognized for their contribution to supporting both human and planetary health (28). However, accessing fresh, desirable, and high-quality fruits, and vegetables is a food environment disparity in tribal communities in the United States including on the Flathead Reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (hereafter "the Flathead Reservation") in the rural state of Montana in the United States (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”