Patterns of fruit and vegetable availability and price competitiveness across four seasons are different in local food outlets and supermarkets.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To explore the effect of seasonality on fruit and vegetable availability and prices across three outlet types (farmers' markets, roadside stands and conventional supermarkets).

Design

Cross-sectional survey of geographically clustered supermarkets, farmers' markets and roadside stands. Enumerators recorded the availability and lowest price for eleven fruits and eighteen vegetables in each season of 2011.

Setting

Price data were collected at retail outlets located in central and eastern North Carolina.

Subjects

The sample consisted of thirty-three supermarkets, thirty-four farmers' markets and twenty-three roadside stands.

Results

Outside the local harvest season, the availability of many fruits and vegetables was substantially lower at farmers'

SUBMITTER: Valpiani N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10271266 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature