An Economic Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: Implications for Overweight and Obesity among Higher- and Lower-Income Consumers

two distinct income groups. The data show that just 10 percent of the prospective shoppers
within close proximity of the inner-city stores are college graduates, as compared to 38 percent
of those within close proximity of the suburban stores.

Analyses conducted in this study employ the standard classification used by USDA and
the produce industry. Fruit is segmented into 8 sub-categories: apples, bananas, berries, citrus,
fresh-cut fruit, grapes, melons and soft fruit (Table 1 and Graph 1). Vegetables are segmented
into 6 sub-categories: Chinese vegetables, collars and other greens, fresh-cut salads (bagged),
major vegetables (corn, potatoes and tomatoes), salad vegetables (cucumbers, lettuce, etc.) and
yellow vegetables (Table 1 and Graph 2). Quantity shares of both fresh-cut fruit and yellow
vegetables are below 1% of total produce sales and these sub-categories are likely to be merged
with other sub-categories in subsequent analyses of these data (Graphs 1 and 2). Even after
fresh-cut fruit is compared to all fruit, its percentage remains below 1 percent, although yellow
vegetables represents 1.4 percent of all vegetables (Graphs 3 and 4). Berries and fresh-cut fruit
are the most expensive fruit; fresh-cut salads and Chinese vegetables are the most expensive
vegetables (Graphs 5 and 6).

An Overview Discussion of Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 provides price and quantity data for the 14 sub-categories of fruit and vegetables
for each store. These data are provided in cents per ounce and total ounces. This discussion is
intended to share some insights on these data, as well as on other data omitted from this table.
Relative to produce sales, store 1 is the largest, averaging $42,300 worth of produce sales per
week. Store 3 averaged $37,800 per week; stores 2 and 4 averaged just over $28,000; and stores
5 and 6 averaged $21,400. With respect to sales alone, lower-income store 4 is comparable in
size to high-income store 2, but the other two low-income stores are much smaller than a typical

<<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   >>

More intriguing information