COMMUNITY FOOD ENVIRONMENT
ENACT STRATEGY: Limit Fast Food
Reduce the negative impact of fast food restaurant chains on community health
Through unhealthy menus, poor working conditions, and aggressive advertising, fast food restaurant chains negatively impact their community's vitality and their residents' health.
- While many communities are affected by fast food, multi-ethnic, low-income communities are aggressively targeted by fast food and often have a higher density of fast food restaurants in their communities [1].
- Pervasive fast food advertising towards children is common practice. One study found that 83 percent of foods advertised during TV shows heavily viewed by children were for packaged snack foods, fast foods, and sweets [2].
- Aggressive marketing towards children is not just limited to advertising, fast food restaurants often cluster around schools, making it easy for youth to access unhealthy food [3].
- Many fast-food jobs are part time, low wage, lack benefits, and have a high turnover rate.
Community efforts to support policies such as formula restaurant ordinances, menu labeling laws, and limiting child advertising can reduce the harmful impact of fast food.
Characteristics of communities that limit fast food's presence:
- Reduce or eliminate permits that allow new fast food chain restaurants to open;
- Require fast food chains to prominently display nutrient information on their menu boards, providing consumers with the information necessary to make informed choices;
- Remove fast food restaurants and products from schools, health-care facilities, and public buildings; and
- Eliminate in-store displays or promotions (e.g., "Happy Meal" toys) that use cartoon characters to market unhealthy foods to children.
The Use of Zoning to Restrict Fast Food Outlets: A Potential Strategy to Combat Obesity
Created by The Center for Law and the Public's Health, this documents reviews the scientific basis and legal precedent for zoning laws that address fast food restaurants and provides examples of such laws.
Fighting Junk Food Marketing to Kids: a Toolkit for Advocates
Created by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, this guide helps community advocates understand how food marketing affects kids' health and what they can do about it at the local level.
Guidelines for Responsible Food Marketing to Children
Center for Science in the Public Interest created these guidelines for the Nutrition Policy Project. The Guidelines provide criteria for marketing food to children in a manner that does not undermine children’s diets or harm their health.
This health code in New York City requires food service establishments that sell food items whose portion size and content are standardized, prominently display information about the calorie content of each menu item.
Formula Restaurant Ordinance**
Adopted by the Arcata City Council, this ordinance limits the number of formula restaurants (i.e. fast food) in the city to no more than nine at any one time.
Prohibits fast food, drive-in and formula food establishments within the city of Carmel.
Food Containing Artificial Trans Fat Amendment
This New York City Health Code restricts the service of products containing artificial trans fat at all food service establishments.
**More examples of formula retail policies are available on our Local Policy Database.
Center for Science in the Public Interest
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) provides resources on policies that reduce the negative impact of fast food restaurant chains including menu-labeling laws, and child marketing.
Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) provides innovative policy solutions to improve community health through land-use planning and regulation of junk-food marketing.
Fast Food Density Associated with Higher Obesity Rates**
In this study researchers examined the relationship between restaurant availability and weight status in 544 US counties. Higher fast food density and a higher ratio of fast-food to full-service restaurants were found to be associated with higher obesity.
Mehta, N, and Chang, V. Weight Status and Restaurant Availability A Multilevel Analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2008 February; 34 (2): 127-133.
Obesity Associated with a High Concentration of Fast Food Restaurants**
This study reports an association between state-level obesity prevalence and both the density of fast food restaurants and the number of fast food restaurants per resident.
Maddock, J. The Relationship Between Obesity and the Prevalence of Fast Food Restaurants: A State-Level Analysis. Am J Health Promotion. 2004; 19 (2): 137-43.
This report reviews the impact of land use regulation on alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and describes the implications for future nutrition-related efforts. A brief history of the public health origins of land use controls and its legal precedent are also provided.
Ashe, M., et al.. Land Use Planning and the Control of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Fast Food Restaurants. Am J Public Health. 2003 September; 93 (9): 1404-8.
** We can only provide links to the study abstracts and not the full text.
[1] Block, J.P., Scribner, R.A., and DeSalvo, K.B. Fast Food, Race/Ethnicity, and Income: a Geographic Analysis. Am J Prev Med. 2004; 27 (3): 211-17.
[2] Harrison, K., and Marske, A. Nutritional Contents of Foods Advertised During the Television Programs Children Watch Most. Am J Public Health. 2005; 95: 1568-74.
[3] Austin, S.B., et al. Clustering of Fast-Food Restaurants Around Schools: a Novel Application of Spatial Statistics to the Study of Food Environments. Am J Public Health. 2005; 95 (9): 1575-81.