The global issue of food insecurity has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic but Dole, the world's largest fruit and vegetable producer, is pledging to bring healthy options to one billion people by 2025 in their #SunshineForAll initiative.
The campaign looks to provide nutritious foods to underserved and poorly served communities, starting in Jackson, Mississippi, said Brad Bartlett, Dole packaged foods president, told Cheddar.
"Within that area, only about 5 percent of those grocery stores supply locally-sourced produce, he said. "There's about 20 grocery stores in the city. That's about one for every 10,000 people."
When it comes to assessing a location as food insecure or not, Bartlett said there are a number of factors that come into play.
"It really has a situation of numbers of people, grocery stores, and the amount of fresh produce and nutritious foods that are available in a particular populous. Really, within a food desert only about maybe 23 percent or so of the people have access to fresh produce," he added.
Dole decided to first introduce its #SunshingForAll campaign to Jackson due to the city's lack of accessible public transportation, a surplus of fast food establishments, and a median income of just over $35,000, Bartlett said.
While many communities are impacted by a lack of adequate access to healthier food options, Dole is leaning on the public to help the company decide which locations should be next. Bartlett said all people have to do is log on to Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and explain to the company why their location qualifies as a food desert while using the tag #SunshineForAll.
"We're looking forward to expanding this. This is something that is an ability for us to get in and help to spread knowledge and awareness, affordability, accessibility, and also to improve the education of an area about healthy products, nutrition," Bartlett said.
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