Ares Gastón, Girona Alejandra, Brunet Gerónimo, Alcaire Florencia, Fajardo Gabriela, Paroli Carolina, Amado Marcelo, Santín Viviana, Vidal Leticia
Sensometrics & Consumer Science, Instituto Polo Tecnológico de Pando, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, By Pass de Rutas 8 y 101 s/n. CP 91000 Pando, Uruguay.
Escuela de Nutrición, Universidad de la República, Av. Ricaldoni S/N, CP 11600 Montevideo, Uruguay.
Health Promot Int. 2025 Jan 17;40(1). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daae201.
Creating supportive food environments has been identified as one of the most effective strategies to promote healthy diets. In this context, the present work aimed to characterize the retail food environment in a low-income area of the city of Montevideo (Uruguay). The study relied on a mixed-methods approach. A survey of food retail outlets was conducted. All the outlets were geocoded, and service areas were created considering a 600 m threshold. Quantitative information was supplemented with qualitative information from semi-structured interviews with residents and grocery store owners. A total of 415 outlets selling a variety of foods were identified. Adequate physical access to the foods recommended by the Uruguayan dietary guidelines was found in most of the residential areas. Small behind-the-counter grocery stores were identified as the key source of healthy foods in the area. However, the accounts of residents highlighted problems related to the price, variety and quality of the foods sold by the local grocery stores. Therefore, strategies to ensure access to healthy food in the study area should go beyond physical access and tackle food affordability, variety and quality. The promotion of short food supply chains in the area should be a key element of the strategies to achieve sustainable urban food systems in Montevideo.
营造支持性的食品环境已被视为促进健康饮食最有效的策略之一。在此背景下，本研究旨在描述蒙得维的亚市（乌拉圭）一个低收入地区的零售食品环境。该研究采用了混合研究方法。对食品零售店进行了调查。所有店铺均进行了地理编码，并考虑600米的阈值创建了服务区。定量信息通过对居民和杂货店店主进行半结构化访谈获得的定性信息加以补充。共识别出415家销售各类食品的店铺。在大多数居民区，居民能够方便地获取乌拉圭饮食指南所推荐的食品。小型柜台后杂货店被确定为该地区健康食品的主要来源。然而，居民的说法突出了当地杂货店所售食品在价格、种类和质量方面存在的问题。因此，确保研究区域内健康食品供应的策略应超越便捷获取层面，还要解决食品的可负担性、种类和质量问题。促进该地区短食品供应链的发展应成为蒙得维的亚实现可持续城市食品系统战略的关键要素。
