Keywords
Food environment, nutrition, grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, Nutrition Environment Measures Survey, Lower Mississippi Delta, rural
This article is included in the Agriculture, Food and Nutrition gateway.
Food environment, nutrition, grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, Nutrition Environment Measures Survey, Lower Mississippi Delta, rural
The Mississippi River Delta region is among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of the United States (US) with less healthful food environments (e.g., low access to healthful foods, food insecurity) and poorer health outcomes than non-Delta counties in the same states and the nation1. Accessibility (location of healthful food outlets near neighborhoods, particularly in low-income and rural areas), availability (healthful options in local food outlets), and affordability (reasonable prices) of nutrient-dense foods are crucial to facilitate adoption of a healthful diet2–4. To inform future nutrition interventions designed for residents of the Lower Mississippi, the Delta Food Outlets Study was conducted to measure nutrition environments of towns located in this region.
Delta Food Outlets was an observational study designed to collect data on food outlets located in five rural Lower Mississippi Delta towns of interest to researchers5. Food outlet types included grocery stores, convenience stores, full-service restaurants, and fast food restaurants. The study was approved and classified as exempt by the Institutional Review Board of Delta State University. Data collection occurred from March 2016 through September 2018.
Grocery stores were identified by referencing two sources – the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailer locator6 and the Mississippi State Department of Health Restaurant and Food Facility Inspections website7. Convenience stores were identified by referencing three sources – the SNAP retailer locator6, the B2B Yellow Pages website8, and lists of current privilege licenses obtained from city clerks. Restaurants were identified by referencing the Mississippi State Department of Health Restaurant and Food Facility Inspections website7. Food outlets were classified using operational definitions contained in the Economic Research Service’s Food Environment Atlas documentation9. While the 266 food outlets included in the datasets represent the entire population of these types of food outlets in the five towns, they may not be representative of all such outlets located in rural Lower Mississippi Delta towns.
Nutrition environments of the food outlets were measured using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey (NEMS) for grocery stores (NEMS-S), convenience stores (NEMS-CS), and restaurants (NEMS-R)10. NEMS tools are validated observational measures of retail store nutrition environments that focus on the availability of healthful food choices, quality of fresh produce, and comparative pricing between healthful and less healthful options in 11 common categories11. A comprehensive description of the Delta Food Outlets Study methodology and measures has been published elsewhere5.
The NEMS tools were recreated as electronic surveys using Snap Surveys software (version 11.20, Snap Surveys Ltd). All data were collected via tablets loaded with Snap Surveys software and stored on the Snap WebHost, an online mobile and secure survey management system. For quality assurance purposes, 25% of the food outlets were randomly selected for duplicate measurement. Discrepancies between measurements were discussed and resolved.
Food outlets were scored using algorithms provided for the NEMS tools. Higher scores indicate a more healthful nutrition environment. To make scores between different types of food outlets comparable, NEMS scores were transformed into ratio scores by dividing each food outlet score by the maximum score possible for that type of outlet. The use of ratio scores was necessary because each NEMS tool has a different possible score range (NEMS-S, -10 to 57; NEMS-CS, -9 to 57; NEMS-R, -7 to 27). The higher the ratio score, the more healthful the nutrition environment. Scoring was performed using SAS® (version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc).
USDA National Agricultural Library’s Ag Data Commons: Delta Food Outlets Study, https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/150370412.
This project contains all three datasets – NEMS-C (convenience stores), NEMS-G (grocery stores), and NEMS-R (restaurants) – along with their corresponding data dictionaries.
Data are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero "No rights reserved" data waiver (CC0 1.0 Public domain dedication).
The authors are grateful to Melissa Goodman, Debra Johnson, and Donna Ransome for their research support and Delta Health Alliance for their in-kind support.
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Is the rationale for creating the dataset(s) clearly described?
Yes
Are the protocols appropriate and is the work technically sound?
Yes
Are sufficient details of methods and materials provided to allow replication by others?
Partly
Are the datasets clearly presented in a useable and accessible format?
Yes
Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Reviewer Expertise: Food environment, food security, policies and interventions to address diet-related behaviors
Is the rationale for creating the dataset(s) clearly described?
Yes
Are the protocols appropriate and is the work technically sound?
Yes
Are sufficient details of methods and materials provided to allow replication by others?
Partly
Are the datasets clearly presented in a useable and accessible format?
Partly
References
1. Farley TA, Rice J, Bodor JN, Cohen DA, et al.: Measuring the food environment: shelf space of fruits, vegetables, and snack foods in stores.J Urban Health. 2009; 86 (5): 672-82 PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full TextCompeting Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Reviewer Expertise: Public health nutrition, food security, food environment
Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
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Provide sufficient details of any financial or non-financial competing interests to enable users to assess whether your comments might lead a reasonable person to question your impartiality. Consider the following examples, but note that this is not an exhaustive list:
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