Healthy Food Sales Rise In Jamaica Bodegas After 'Intervention'

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- Healthy foods can be found in a majority of Jamaica's bodegas if you know where to look - The problem, a new study found, is that most people don't.

Despite Jamaica's inclusion in Public Health Solutions' 2014 map of food swamps - areas with limited access to health foods - a followup study released in July found that nearly two thirds of 139 bodegas surveyed in the southeast Queens neighborhood do carry at least one type of fruit or vegetable, but those and other healthy options are hard to find.

The results prompted the NYC public health nonprofit to ask a new question: Would more people buy healthy foods from bodegas in the southeast Queens neighborhoods if they were better advertised? PHS selected nine of the original participants for an "intervention" to help them find out.

The nonprofit offered those bodegas signage, merchandisers, food preparation equipment and other tools to see if making healthy foods more visible and available would prompt more people to buy them.

Parts of the "intervention" delved into educating storeowners about how to source more healthier foods, while other tactics were as simple as pushing scattered fruits, veggies, nuts and granola bars to the front of the bodega in one prominent display, according to PHS.

The seemingly small changed proved effective.

More than half of the participating bodegas saw their fruit sales increase - and 63 percent began stocking more healthy items - after the "intervention," the study found.

All but one of the bodegas reported the project, particularly the prominent healthy food displays, "had a positive impact on the store's appearance," according to PHS said.

The group also recommended that, in addition to seeking out and promoting more health foods, Jamaica storeowners should make resources available in Arabic to prevent language and cultural barriers among potential business parters.

Lead photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images