Government data v. ground observation for food-environment assessment: businesses missed and misreported by city and state inspection records
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of government inspection records, relative to ground observation, for identifying businesses offering foods/drinks. DESIGN: Agreement between city and state inspection records v. ground observations at two levels: businesses and street segments. Agreement could be 'strict' (by business name, e.g. 'Rizzo's') or 'lenient' (by business type, e.g. 'pizzeria'); using sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) for businesses and using sensitivity, PPV, specificity and negative predictive value (NPV) for street segments. SETTING: The Bronx and the Upper East Side (UES), New York City, USA. PARTICIPANTS: All food/drink-offering businesses on sampled street segments (n 154 in the Bronx, n 51 in the UES). RESULTS: By 'strict' criteria, sensitivity and PPV of government records for food/drink-offering businesses were 0·37 and 0·57 in the Bronx; 0·58 and 0·60 in the UES. 'Lenient' values were 0·40 and 0·62 in the Bronx; 0·60 and 0·62 in the UES. Sensitivity, PPV, specificity and NPV of government records for street segments having food/drink-offering businesses were 0·66, 0·73, 0·84 and 0·79 in the Bronx; 0·79, 0·92, 0·67, and 0·40 in the UES. In both areas, agreement varied by business category: restaurants; 'food stores'; and government-recognized other storefront businesses ('gov. OSB', i.e. dollar stores, gas stations, pharmacies). Additional business categories - 'other OSB' (barbers, laundromats, newsstands, etc.) and street vendors - were absent from government records; together, they represented 28·4 % of all food/drink-offering businesses in the Bronx, 22·2 % in the UES ('other OSB' and street vendors were sources of both healthful and less-healthful foods/drinks in both areas). CONCLUSIONS: Government records frequently miss or misrepresent businesses offering foods/drinks, suggesting caveats for food-environment assessments using such records.
Source: Public Health Nutrition
Authors: Sean C Lucan, Andrew R Maroko, Courtney Abrams, Noemi Rodriguez, Achint N Patel, Ilirjan Gjonbalaj, Clyde B Schechter, Brian Elbel
Language: English
Topic: Food Safety and Hygiene
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Institutes of Health, School of Medicine, New York University, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: Impact of the Food Environment on Child Body Mass Index - Resubmission - 1, Clinical and Translational Science Award, Clinical and Translational Science Award, Local food sources around home and school and adolescent dietary intake, G9000330754, New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research
OpenAlex ID: W2988477626