As farmer’s markets change to life for its 2021 year, Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH) is enlarging programs to create fresh fruits and veggies available to individuals who reside in food deserts or even that may experience food insecurity.
Food safety is a household’s capacity to get wholesome foods, which leads to a more active and healthier way of life.
In accordance with MCPH, almost 15 percent of families in Mecklenburg County are considered food insecure. That means that they have a diminished quality and wide range of diet, can consume less, and that their eating patterns are disrupted as a result of lack of resources and money.
In 2021the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners put a priority on fixing food safety and allocated funds to scale up programs offering healthy meals in food insecure places such as the Public Health priority areas.
This initiative permits residents to use their own SNAP/EBT advantages at participating farmers’ markets while getting a dollar-for-dollar match in their purchases of new vegetables and fruits.
The initiative also welcomes four new farmer’s markets into Mecklenburg County at 2021. Two of the new markets have been pop-ups coordinated from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council with funds from MCPH to serve their immediate areas:
“Poor diet leads to bad health,” Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris stated. “Several problems contribute to this, such as accessibility and price –wholesome food costs more and low carb people are more likely to be vulnerable to advertisements for unhealthy meals, and also to retail places that promote it.