Field validation of food outlet databases: the Latino food environment in North Carolina, USA.

OBJECTIVE

Obtaining valid, reliable measures of food environments that serve Latino communities is important for understanding barriers to healthy eating in this at-risk population.

DESIGN

The primary aim of the study was to examine agreement between retail food outlet data from two commercial databases, Nielsen TDLinx (TDLinx) for food stores and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) for food stores and restaurants, relative to field observations of food stores and restaurants in thirty-one census tracts in Durham County, NC, USA. We also examined differences by proportion of Hispanic population (</≥23·4 % Hispanic population) in the census tract and for outlets classified in the field as 'Latino' on the basis of signage and use of Spanish language.

SETTING

One hundred and seventy-four food stores and 337 restaurants in Durham County, NC, USA.

RESULTS

We found that overall sensitivity of food store listings in TDLinx was higher (64 %) than listings in D&B (55 %). Twenty-five food stores were characterized by auditors as Latino food stores, with 20 % identified in TDLinx, 52 % in D&B and 56 % in both sources. Overall sensitivity of restaurants (68 %) was higher than sensitivity of Latino restaurants (38 %) listed in D&B. Sensitivity did not differ substantially by Hispanic composition of neighbourhoods.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that while TDLinx and D&B commercial data sources perform well for total food stores, they perform less well in identifying small and independent food outlets, including many Latino food stores and restaurants.