PHILADELPHIA, PA – Although a warm sun shone brightly outside, Philadelphia’s “food deserts” faced figurative nourishing rain as 80 industry professionals gathered on April 17 to begin a cooperative effort to improve the area’s food and nutrition status.
The Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market (PWPM) hosted the first-ever Delaware Valley Nutrition Summit. Local organizations gathered with the common goal of benefiting high-need areas through increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Philadelphia is among many U.S. cities with vast “food deserts” – urban areas lacking retail or foodservice outlets offering healthy, fresh produce.
The speakers were
• Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary, Food & Nutrition Services, Washington, DC
• Cathy Nonas, RD, CDE: Director, Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, New York City Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Physical Activity and Nutrition Program
• Giridhar Mallya, MD, MSHP, Director of Policy and Planning, Philadelphia Department of Public Health
• Rená Cozart, Regional Executive Director, American Diabetes Association
• Yael Lehmann, Executive Director, The Food Trust
• Angel Rodriguez, Executive Director, Empowerment Group
“Since PWPM opened in June, our business development work found many independent groups in this community with similar urban health goals,” said Tad Thompson, the business development manager of the Philadelphia market. “It made perfect sense to bring these people together through the Nutrition Summit to create networking opportunities and discuss ways PWPM can work with organizations to reduce obesity, heart disease and diabetes while improving consumer health through greater produce consumption. Many of our guests had not yet seen this new facility. They were impressed by our cold-chain protected, clean facility. They gained an understanding of how this competitive wholesale market yields the best value to a community with limited household budgets.”
Source: Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market