Food desert as a social issue (Research Paper Sample)

Food Desert as a Social Issue Student Name Affiliated Institution Course Name Instructor Name Date Identifying the Social Problem ‘Food Deserts’ is a term used to categorize certain areas that do not have access to healthy, fresh foods (Bitler & Haider, 2010). The term has been around since the 1990s and is used to describe urban areas of low income where African Americans and Latinos are the primary demographic (Kim, 2022). Policy initiatives have recently shifted their focus to improving people's access to healthful meals to decrease obesity and increase food security. The ''food desert'' idea, which describes the lack of supermarkets in low-income urban areas, has been widely discussed recently, and these new initiatives aim to address this Issue. With so much commerce in urban communities, it is odd they should have better management of access to foods and proper markets within their cities. In American cities, there is a massive number of food deserts caused justly by urbanization and the lack of investment from markets in lower-income neighborhoods (Bitler & Haider, 2010). The food desert was planned to segregate White neighborhoods from Black ones (Kim, 2022). “This practice has been called supermarket redlining, echoing the earlier redlining that restricted mortgage lending in predominantly Black neighborhoods (Kim, 2022 para. 1)”. The reason for the desert was to make it so that Whites could feel superior in their communities while heightening the likeliness of African Americans becoming lumpenproletariats and thus vulnerable to health risks, desperation for lower-paying jobs, among many other factors that come from not having the proper nutrition available. Though the demand for better quality foods has always been high amongst urban communities, the costly nature of higher quality foods surpasses lower-income communities in urban settings and thus opens up a large door for said communities to have malnutrition issues and inadvertently create a series of health concerns; making the community liability for the city as the same group that does not have the income for higher quality foods also does not have the money to pay for health insurance and the inevitable health concerns that come with poor diet (Bitler & Haider, 2010). Numerous studies have shown that the lack of a large grocery store in a reasonably close location is a significant barrier to access to inexpensive, nutritious, healthful, and culturally acceptable meals in communities with limited resources of color. Studies have found that a lack of access to supermarkets may contribute to food insecurity, poor diets, and growing health inequities; nevertheless, the criteria for what constitutes a supermarket have varied from study to study. The motivation for covering the Issue of malnutrition in urban communities comes from seeing the economic contrast described in Social Service or Social Change. As inequality soars, especially post the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was exposed to how while some groups, the economic elite, would not suffer for a single second should there be a catastrophe (like the pandemic), the grand majority of people would not have access to everyday needs. Healthier food associations emphasize regional production and distribution rather than the current agrifood system, which activists often promote. Policymakers and city planners are firmly behind initiatives to bring supermarkets to food deserts. This display is amplified in cities, where the elite may be far and separated from the lower-income communities, but harbor the same town, sometimes even the same zip code, though having entirely different access to basic needs like food, water, and other factors. The choice was made out of pure disbelief that cities do not value the lives of those who they know not only cannot afford to shop at the ‘organic’ markets but cannot prepare the proper foods due to costs such as electricity and gas, along with city’s carelessness with their citizen’s health which would likely be affected by their lack of proper diet. The only ones who benefit from food deserts are the mega-franchises such as McDonald’s, Popeye’s, KFC, and Burger King, among others, who cater to the lower income brackets by providing less costly foods (Bitler & Hadler, 2010). The problem lies not in charging so little for food but in the quality of food they provide. “Someone who eats at McDonald’s twice a week is six times more likely to develop poor cholesterol and heart complications (Bitler & Haider 2010, p. 166)”. The blame cannot be placed on McDonald’s and other franchises. These franchises belong to a free market. The blame must be placed on the poor management of the city’s planning ability not to provide, even if state-funded, access to healthier foods like fruits and vegetables to their citizens, almost always blaming a lack of budget (Nardi & Masters, 2015). Specific Demographic The demographic affected by food deserts deals with lower-income neighborhoods in urban settings. Unfortunately, lower-income communities in cities comprise Latin and African Americans (Bitler & Haider, 2010). “More than 53 million or 17% of Americans were considered low-income and had little to no access to supermarkets or similar large food stores, according to 2019 data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Brown, 2021 para. 12).” The demographic chosen to be focused on specifically, however, is that of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy), where people not only do not have many options of supermarkets but are forced by convenience to buy their foods in smaller markets with limited options and expensive bodegas which typically do not carry the healthiest choices (Treadway, 2021). Bed Stuy has one of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in New York City (Zahilay, 2010). In a study conducted by New York City’s Department of Health (DOH), the Bed-Stuy area had one of the worst food access ratings in the entire city (Zahilay, 2010). “Only 1 in 3 bodegas sells reduced-fat milk compared with 9 in 10 supermarkets. About 28% of bodegas carry apples, oranges, and bananas, compared with 91% of supermarkets. Leafy green vegetables are available at only one in every ten bodegas (Zahilay, 2010 p. 20).” Because the Bed-Stuy area is about 78% African American, and the knowledge that was gained following this research about how government planning during the urbanization era deliberately kept markets from forming in poor Black communities, the specific group to be studied for this project should undoubtedly be the traditionally Black neighborhood of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant. Power Analysis Because food deserts were a deliberate plan caused by racist zoning techniques, the blame for food deserts cannot be placed on the mega food franchises such as McDonald’s that make it hard for a small business to compete should small companies set up healthy foods in their urban food desert (Bitler & Haider, 2010). “If fixed costs related to the retailing of healthy and nutritious food are important, then these fixed costs would raise food prices more…to the extent that fewer people spread these costs over (Bitler & Haider, 2010 p. 168)”. While Bitler & Haider are correct in their economic reasoning as to why there is such difficult access in lower-income neighborhoods, they ignore the fact that there is no regulation amongst these franchises and city planning. As described in some of the earlier lessons, food deserts disrespect the ethical code of human services. It does not respect people's dignity and welfare nor celebrates cultural diversity (as it does the opposite in segregating racial groups). The urban communities' zoning plans only advocate for social justice, the planning being so terrible that the community has to support it. As discussed in the earlier lectures, the responsibility to clients and commitment to the public and society is nonexistent at the hands of food franchises with businesses located in areas like Bedford-Stuyvesant. While they work within the laws of the land, they knowingly sell their unhealthy products exploitatively, as they ignore the amount of health damage their monopolized products create in this vulnerable group for maximum profits. The ethical codes in human services behind the zoning planning are even more absurd, as their solemn responsibility was to, in theory, spread the code of ethical conduct to their citizens to make sure they can live dignified, healthy lives that have been robbed from places like Bed-Stuy through racial and economic discriminatory notions. Following Paul Kivel, who wrote the article Social Service or Social Change, these food deserts in urban communities fit perfectly into Kivel’s oppressive power structure, which he refers to as The Buffer Zone. The wealthy elite, i.e., the owners of monopolized franchises such as McDonald’s and KFC, harvest the fruits of their businesses at the expense of these concentrated communities while giving the illusion that their companies are providing a service such as cheaper foods. “The first function is to care for people at the bottom of the pyramid. Suppose it was a literal free-for-all for that 9% of social wealth allocated to people with low incomes/working/and lower middle classes. There would be chaos, and many more people would be dying in the streets instead of dying invisibly in homes, hospitals, prisons, rest homes, homeless shelters, etc. (Kivel, 2000 para. 16).” By keeping these lower-income communities just healthy enough to keep consuming their products, as they do not have much other choice given their physical locations. In that case, they have created a hub of dependents on their ‘services’. The lack of actual blame amongst these mega franchises lies entirely on the liberated market system that the capitalist structure provides- the state cannot moni...