Food in poor neighborhoods often not sofresh

Customer Alvaro Maduro (left) speaks with Maria Vanegas with The Food Trust about whole grain tortillas at the Indiana

Food Market in Philadelphia. Mom-and-pop convenience stores in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia have been getting

healthier through the “Fresh Corner” initiative, an effort designed to help residents eat better in places considered to be

food deserts. Photo: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

PHILADELPHIA — For the poor, food is not only scarce — often, it’s also rotten and germ-

ridden.

Corner stores and small supermarkets that feed vast swaths, or areas, of impoverished

Philadelphia offer bacteria-laced foods in unhealthy conditions, a Drexel University study

shows. Eating such foods can lead to foodborne illness.

Customers agree with the science.

“Potatoes and baby food are moldy, lettuce is rotten, and the mice are having a good time

in boxes of noodles,” said Rodney Jenkins, 47, an unemployed North Philadelphia man. “I

ate bad fruit from a corner store and got sick.”

Jenkins worries about feeding his children with so few worthwhile food choices.

“It’s horrible,” he said. “When we get food up here, it’s like we get the end of all food, the

last batch of it.”

By The Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.24.14

Word Count 975

"Food Deserts" Can Be Dangerous Places

For years, advocates for the poor have been trying to get fruits, vegetables and other

staples into so-called food deserts like North Philadelphia.

"Food desert" is a term invented for low-income areas where access to healthy produce is

limited. In a food desert, there may be fast-food restaurants or corner stores, but not often

supermarkets, making it hard for families to get groceries.

There has never been an investigation of food safety risks that these desert-dwellers face

— until now.

The new study is being conducted by food microbiologist Jennifer Quinlan.

Quinlan and her team visited nearly 400 corner stores and small supermarkets between

2008 and 2010. The goal was to study microbes in milk, eggs, lunch meat, sandwiches

and ready-to-eat fresh fruits and greens.

The results were alarming.

“We found milk likely to have more bacteria,” Quinlan said. “And when we could find fresh

produce, it had a lot of contamination on it.”

Beware Of Warm Milk

Foodborne illness is tricky to detect. Some might not know they have it, since the

symptoms — cramps, diarrhea, vomiting — can be caused by many factors.

Fortunately, foodborne illness is rarely deadly. Recent estimates show that of 9.4 million

cases of foodborne illness in the United States in a year, fewer than 1,500 resulted in

death.

Much of the damage done by foods gone bad in corner stores is felt in poor people’s

wallets.

For example, many corner-store owners get milk from larger stores, and transport it in their

own cars, scientists at Yale University found. Milk spoils faster under conditions of

“temperature abuse.”

Similarly, Quinlan and her researchers found that newly delivered milk will often stand

outside refrigerators for longer periods because there are too few employees to put it

away.

A customer then finds the milk goes bad much sooner than on-carton expiration dates

indicate. Because the smell of spoiled milk keeps anyone from drinking it, the result for an

individual is not foodborne illness but wasted dollars, Quinlan said.

Playing Cat And Mouse With Germs

In corner stores, she found high amounts of bacteria in bagged salad, strawberries and

cucumbers, indicating that the food was close to spoilage. Many times the items rot soon

after purchase, which is another waste of money.

It wasn’t uncommon to see mice in stores, which is why many corner stores keep cats, who

carry their own germs, Quinlan said.

Additionally, Quinlan found evidence of fecal coliforms in foods, even in markets in high-

end neighborhoods.

Fecal coliform is a group of bacteria that indicates possible contamination from human or

animal waste. E. coli, for example, is a fecal coliform.

People can ingest fecal coliform without consequence — but its presence may mean other

disease-causing bacteria are in the food, scientists say.

Stores in low-income areas in Philadelphia demonstrated a 100 percent rate of fecal

coliforms in ready-to-eat greens, the study said.

Similarly, eggs were often found to be unrefrigerated in corner stores, a salmonella risk.

Food Handling At Home Is Risky Too

Along with corner stores, Quinlan also studied food handling in private homes, many of

them poor.

More than 42 percent of the refrigerators were too warm, and several homes had no

refrigerators at all. A few lacked hot water. More than two-thirds had a pest infestation,

including mice.

Poor people understand that they have few options in protecting themselves from bad

food.

“If you’re living on the edge and not getting enough to eat, you make riskier choices in

order to eat,” food microbiologist Donald Schaffner said.

Nutritionist Debra Palmer works on food-related issues with poor New Jersey residents.

When they are stuck with bad food, poor people will wash slime off lunch meats, cut mold

from cheese and bread, slice off rotten parts of fruit, then simply eat what’s left, Palmer’s

research shows.

Palmer said that people will buy warm, discounted meat from old trucks that drive through

poor neighborhoods. Many report getting food from dumpsters outside restaurants.

It’s also fairly routine for people to eat roadkill in places such as Cumberland County,

Palmer said.

Not Eating Is A Bigger Risk To Many

Because many poor New Jersey residents live amid crumbling infrastructure and

abandoned properties, it is not uncommon for people to report their food ruined by pests.

Palmer’s research includes the story of a family that reported roaches crawling out of

cereal when it was poured in a bowl.

Quinlan said she recognized the need to get impoverished people in food deserts to eat

more fruits and vegetables. However, she added, from a microbiologist’s viewpoint, “if

people can’t store and keep food safely, you’re not doing them any favors getting them that

food.”

She added that “there are good frozen, canned and dried food options” that may be safer.

Ultimately, in the choice between eating and food safety, it’s no contest.

“This population is more concerned about access to food than food safety,” said Benjamin

Chapman, an expert on food safety. “The first step is just getting food, whatever the

means."

He added, “The biggest risk is not eating at all.”

Quiz

1 Select the paragraph from the introduction [paragraphs 1-6] that thoroughly summarizes the

central idea of the article.

2 Select the sentence that most directly connects the idea of “food deserts” to the main idea of

the article.

(A) For years, advocates for the poor have been trying to get fruits, vegetables

and other staples into so-called food deserts like North Philadelphia.

(B) In a food desert, there may be fast-food restaurants or corner stores, but not

often supermarkets, making it hard for families to get groceries.

(C) "Food desert" is a term invented for low-income areas where access to

healthy produce is limited.

(D) Quinlan said she recognized the need to get impoverished people in food

deserts to eat more fruits and vegetables.

3 Read the sentence from the article.

Because many poor New Jersey residents live amid crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned properties, it is not uncommon for

people to report their food ruined by pests.

Select the sentence with the same basic meaning.

(A) Because many poor New Jersey residents live around crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned buildings, people rarely report their food has

been ruined by pests.

(B) Because many poor New Jersey residents live in crumbling infrastructure

and abandoned shopping centers, people rarely report their food has been

ruined by pests.

(C) Because many poor New Jersey residents live around crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned buildings, people sometimes report their food

has been ruined by pests.

(D) Because many poor New Jersey residents live in crumbling infrastructure

and abandoned shopping centers, people sometimes report their food has

been ruined by pests.

4 Read the sentence from the article.

“If you’re living on the edge and not getting enough to eat, you make

riskier choices in order to eat,” food microbiologist Donald Schaffner

said.

A “food microbiologist” like Donald Schaffner most likely studies:

(A) large living organisms, like the farm animals used for meat

(B) small living organisms, like the bacteria that can contaminate food

(C) small living organisms, like the mice that infest some grocery stores

(D) large living organisms, like the people that eat the food found in grocery

stores

Answer Key

1 Select the paragraph from the introduction [paragraphs 1-6] that thoroughly summarizes the

central idea of the article.

Paragraph 1:

Corner stores and small supermarkets that feed vast swaths, or areas, of

impoverished Philadelphia offer bacteria-laced foods in unhealthy conditions, a

Drexel University study shows. Eating such foods can lead to foodborne illness.

2 Select the sentence that most directly connects the idea of “food deserts” to the main idea of

the article.

(A) For years, advocates for the poor have been trying to get fruits, vegetables

and other staples into so-called food deserts like North Philadelphia.

(B) In a food desert, there may be fast-food restaurants or corner stores, but not

often supermarkets, making it hard for families to get groceries.

(C) "Food desert" is a term invented for low-income areas where access to

healthy produce is limited.

(D) Quinlan said she recognized the need to get impoverished people in food

deserts to eat more fruits and vegetables.

3 Read the sentence from the article.

Because many poor New Jersey residents live amid crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned properties, it is not uncommon for

people to report their food ruined by pests.

Select the sentence with the same basic meaning.

(A) Because many poor New Jersey residents live around crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned buildings, people rarely report their food has

been ruined by pests.

(B) Because many poor New Jersey residents live in crumbling infrastructure

and abandoned shopping centers, people rarely report their food has been

ruined by pests.

(C) Because many poor New Jersey residents live around crumbling

infrastructure and abandoned buildings, people sometimes report their

food has been ruined by pests.

(D) Because many poor New Jersey residents live in crumbling infrastructure

and abandoned shopping centers, people sometimes report their food has

been ruined by pests.

4 Read the sentence from the article.

“If you’re living on the edge and not getting enough to eat, you make

riskier choices in order to eat,” food microbiologist Donald Schaffner

said.

A “food microbiologist” like Donald Schaffner most likely studies:

(A) large living organisms, like the farm animals used for meat

(B) small living organisms, like the bacteria that can contaminate food

(C) small living organisms, like the mice that infest some grocery stores

(D) large living organisms, like the people that eat the food found in grocery

stores