Food Acquisition and Shopping Patterns among Residents of Low-Income and Low-Access Communities in South Carolina

Background: Little is known about the food acquisition and shopping habits of residents living in food deserts.

Objective: To identify distinct food acquisition and shopping patterns among residents, most of whom (81%) live in food desert (low income and low access) census tracts, and characterize these patterns with respect to the residents' socioeconomic status, nutrition knowledge, and perceptions of their food environment.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study.

Participants/setting: Four hundred sixty-six primary food shoppers were included from two counties in South Carolina during 2013-2014.

Main outcome measures: Participants' self-reported food acquisition and shopping habits, including shopping distance; frequency; store type; transportation mode; use of farmers' markets, food banks/pantries, and church/social service organizations, were used to develop shopping patterns and group residents. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation, food security, income, and education, nutrition knowledge, and perceptions of the food environment were used to characterize these groups.

Statistical analyses performed: Latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify and characterize patterns, respectively.

Results: Three patterns were identified, including those who use community food resources, are infrequent grocery shoppers, and use someone else's car or public transportation when shopping (Class 1) (35%), those who use community food resources and are more frequent and proximal shoppers (Class 2) (41%), and those who do not use community food resources and are distal shoppers (Class 3) (24%). Compared with Class 3, Class 1 had comparatively lower socioeconomic status. Class 2 also had comparatively lower socioeconomic attributes except for income. Class 2 was not significantly different from Class 1 except that a higher proportion in Class 1 saw food access as a problem. No significant differences across classes were found regarding fruit and vegetable recommendation knowledge.

Conclusions: Shopping frequency, use of community food resources, transportation methods, and shopping distance were the key factors that defined distinct patterns among residents living in low-income areas. Future interventions to increase healthy food access in underserved areas should not only consider accessibility but also community food resource use.