Food Resource Environment in the Greater Compton Region
Greater Compton region which is central to South LA has one of the poorest food resource environments in Los Angeles County.
Home to over 1.3 million people, the greater South Los Angeles area’s roughly 60 full-service grocery stores serve about 22,000 residents. In contrast, West LA has 650,000 residents and 57 stores, each of which serve around 11,000 residents.
The availability, variety and quality of fresh foods found in all food outlets in the region are considerably inferior to that found in other areas of Los Angeles. A study conducted by CHC found the following data on food retail outlets of the region compared with those in West LA are cause for concern:
The area's food outlets sell less often fresh produce, meat, and low-carb snacks.
Only three-quarters of all food retail outlets in the region sell fresh fruits and vegetables compared to over 90 percent of those in West LA.
The food retail outlets in the region have only about half of the selection of fruits and vegetables, and they are more likely to be damaged or spoiled.
Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recently reported that the percentage of adults who consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day is significantly lower in South LA (12.7 percent) than in West LA (22.7 percent) and Los Angeles County (14.7 percent). These rates are similar in Compton.
In addition, only 27.6 percent of adults in South LA rate the quality of the fresh fruits and vegetables where they shop as high, compared to 51.6 percent in West LA and 36 percent in the County overall.
What can be done to improve the Food and Nutrition situation in the region?
We believe that the food quality in the under-served greater Compton region can be changed sustainably by this one core objective:
Saving lives by eating better.
In order to enhance the health status of the residents in the under-served regions of Southern California, we will introduce a new prepared meals program. The program will focus on affordable, nutritious, freshly prepared low-carb heat-n-eat meals delivered to the residents on a weekly basis.