To combat the increasing number of communities with inadequate access to full-service grocery stores, states and counties have begun investing in small food retailers that the communities often heavily rely upon. Small food retail laws introduce incentives such as grants, loans, tax incentives, or technical assistance to increase the quality of food options available in a targeted area.
Laws to increase access to healthier foods exist at every level of government. Legal strategies introduced by local and county-level jurisdictions are more easily responsive to the communities they serve, and can reflect the diverse needs of those communities.
This map presents key components of local-level small food retail laws in seven cities and counties that intend to stimulate healthier food retail through incentivization in effect as of August 1, 2018.
The data were created by the Louisville, Kentucky Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness as part of the 2018 Local Policy Surveillance Project, a year-long legal epidemiology project, with training and technical assistance from CDC’s Public Health Law Program, along with ChangeLab Solutions and the Policy Surveillance Program at Temple University’s Center for Public Health Law Research.