Evaluation of a Mobile Farmer's Market Aimed at Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Food Deserts: A Pilot Study to Determine Evaluation Feasibility

Purpose: In November 2015, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank implemented a pilot phase of the Green Grocer mobile market, a program aimed at improving access to locally sourced fresh foods in low-resource neighborhoods. We conducted an evaluation of this pilot phase. Methods: We conducted baseline surveys of residents in six neighborhoods that received Green Grocer in the pilot phase to understand the food environment, including perceptions of fresh food availability, and another survey of Green Grocer consumers to evaluate their experiences and satisfaction. We measured respondent intake of fruit and vegetable in the terms of days per week and servings per day. We used Poisson regression with cluster-robust standard errors to model the average change in produce consumption pre-post intervention. Results: Residents of select communities observed meaningful improvements in intake. After covariate adjustment, Homewood residents observed an average 13% increase in vegetable intake (days/week) rates post-Green Grocer (p=0.04). Clairton residents also showed marked increases, with an average 20% increase in vegetable intake (servings/day) (p=0.049). After 6 months, declines in produce purchase from discount stores and supercenters were observed alongside increases in procurement from Green Grocer, farmer's markets, gardens, and other sources. Conclusion: Our preliminary work provides support that this mobile market serving under-resourced areas was valued by consumers and showed increases in vegetable consumption in several neighborhoods. When scaled-up, this program had the potential to reduce geographically-based food and health disparities.