New efforts are being made this summer to bring fresh produce and other nutritional food to bodegas, particularly those in neighborhoods where grocery stores are scarce. The New York Times reports that Hunts Point’s wholesale warehouse Jetro Cash and Carry (which supplies many of New York’s bodegas) is teaming up with City Harvest, Hostos Community College and city healthy officials “to promote healthy eating in poor neighborhoods.”
The warehouse will set up a mock fresh produce display in the warehouse so bodega owners know what one looks like and to “encourage” them to “recreate it in their stores.” There will also be classes on handling and selling fresh food.
According to the city’s Healthy Bodegas Initiative report form 2010 (PDF), these types of efforts are long and ongoing, with South Bronx, North and Central Brooklyn, and East and Central Harlem particularly in need of reform.
Side fact: The Hunts Point warehouse is a flagship for nationwide chain Jetro Holdings (with five in NYC) and is controlled by the South African business magnate Nathan Kirsh, as The New York Times points out. Omitted in the report: Kirsch is the largest shareholder of Magal Security Systems, which is the main supplier of electronic fences for the controversial security fence project in the West Bank. (Photo: @bwalsh)
