Mapping a Food System

To improve access to healthy food and, ultimately, health outcomes, many local governments are considering recommending changes to their business licensing requirements and/or their zoning ordinances to encourage development of certain types of retail food outlets and/or prevent the development of other types of outlets in various neighborhoods/areas.

Expanding on measures of food deserts and food swamps, the CDC has created the Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI) to capture both concepts in a single number and has calculated that number for the state of Montana and each of its counties.

mRFEI = 100 * (“healthy” retail food outlets / all retail food outlets)

My analysis builds on the CDC’s work by calculating the mRFEI for each neighborhood in the City of Missoula, thus enabling City and/or County-level policy solutions to improving access to healthy food and health outcomes in Missoula