Healthy Retail as a Strategy for Improving Food Security and the Built Environment in San Francisco

Abstract

In low-income neighborhoods without supermarkets, lack of healthy food access often is exacerbated by the saturation of small corner stores with tobacco and unhealthy foods and beverages. We describe a municipal healthy retail program in San Francisco, California, focusing on the role of a local coalition in program implementation and outcomes in the city’s low income Tenderloin neighborhood. By incentivizing selected corner stores to become healthy retailers, and through community engagement and cross-sector partnerships, the program is seeing promising outcomes, including a “ripple effect” of improvement across nonparticipating neighborhood stores.

Incentivizing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Purchases with Fresh Produce in Corner Stores to Reduce Food Inequity in Underserved Areas of Washington DC

“…Sustainability has also been enhanced in some models with financial support from funds collected from imposed soda taxes, which may be a plausible future direction for the present model. 27 Corner stores remain a stable part of the local economy, often passed down from generation to generation and fall under the category of ''convenience stores,'' which accounted for 34% of the brick and mortar retail offerings in the United States, and 3.1% of gross domestic product in 2017 (yet, convenient stores which sell fuel account for 80% of stores in this grouping). 28 While it has been found that many people visit corner stores on a near daily basis, reduced access to such venues has been shown to reduce the obesity risk.…”

The ethics of excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages

“…To date, SSB tax revenues in the U.S. have been largely dedicated to health equity programs; accessibility of drinking water, physical activity, and healthy food, especially for children and low-income populations; public parks and recreation; healthy beverage campaigns; dental services; the CDC's Diabetes Prevention Program; nutrition education in public schools; universal prekindergarten; and community college tuition. [ [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [35] , [42] , [43] ] These programs aim to directly improve health or to address the social determinants of health (e.g., education), particularly in communities most affected by SSB marketing, consumption, and diet-related disease.…”

“…[ 62 , [71] , [72] , [73] ] Additionally, in the U.S., SSB tax revenues have largely been spent on promoting health and social equity. [ 18 , 19 , 21 , 35 , 42 , 43 ] Thus, SSB taxes may have a net benefit for low-income households. [23] …”

“…[9] To date, these taxes have reduced consumption or purchasing of taxed beverages [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and have funded public health, education, and equity programs, such as installation of clean drinking water in public schools, food security programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthy retail in low-income neighborhoods, and free prekindergarten for low-income families. [18][19][20][21] SSB taxes have been endorsed by the World Health Organization, [2] American Heart Association (AHA), American Academy of Pediatrics, [22] and other prominent health organizations. However, SSB taxes have also been controversial and failed to pass in many jurisdictions.…”

“…[9] To date, these taxes have reduced consumption or purchasing of taxed beverages [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] and have funded public health, education, and equity programs, such as installation of clean drinking water in public schools, food security programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthy retail in low-income neighborhoods, and free prekindergarten for low-income families. [18] , [19] , [20] , [21]…”