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Food banks are at the forefront of the battle against food insecurity which is a condition where households do not have adequate access to food. Traditionally speaking, food banks focus on distributing food to meet the needs. Recently, more food banks are shifting to supply adequate healthy food based on the populations they serve. However, the question remains whether a local food bank can find racial communities in need with dietary considerations. This study's purpose is to use data collected by a local food bank and create visualizations to aid strategic decision-making for the food bank to recognize racial communities with those who have dietary considerations. Results revealed nine out of sixteen counties in the service area of the local food bank have the highest number of African Americans allergic to shellfish compared to a few counties having the highest number of Whites, American Indians, and Hispanic/Latinos. Additionally, 53.7% of African Americans, 11.2% of Hispanics and Latinos, and 34.3% of Whites face lactose intolerance. Data shows that African Americans have the highest number of dietary considerations in most categories that are in several counties. The significance of this study supports a local food bank in finding dietary considerations within the areas they serve. Finding racial communities that face dietary considerations will aid the local food bank in making better strategic decisions on what types of food they should serve and where. Ultimately, the importance of this study is to combat food insecurity and hunger, so that members of the local food bank community can have dignity in knowing the food that will be given is valuable and not wasted.
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Visualizing a Local Food Bank’s Chronic Health Disease Population
Food insecurity hinders individuals from the healthy and sustainable life they truly deserve. Unfortunately, food insecurity and chronic health diseases affect millions of people across the United States. Food banks are constantly fighting the uphill battle against food insecurity to supply adequate, relevant, healthy meals to those who need them. Oftentimes hunger relief organizations lack data and software tools that could aid strategic decision-making. A local food bank faces this exact problem and is struggling to find clients that face chronic health diseases in their service area. This study uses data from the local food bank to develop visualizations that investigate the health considerations of the population they serve. The results easily found a specific county with the largest number of health considerations and a zip code with the highest number of individuals facing hypertension. Dominant chronic health considerations highlight the importance for food banks to diversify their food selections. It is important for the local food bank to know what foods are essential within each county and zip code area to provide services that will be valuable to those who need them. This study benefits food banks so they can yield better service to the community.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2100855
- PAR ID:
- 10462984
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 8th North American International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, Houston, Texas, USA, June 13-16, 2023
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- The DOI is not currently available.
