Mobile food vendors are sometimes found in Hispanic and African American neighborhoods, often where there are few large food outlets (1,2). Since 2008, the Green Carts program in New York City has provided incentives to vendors to sell whole fruits and vegetables in areas that have limited access to such food (3). There is value in exploring public health strategies that encourage the sale of nutritious food by mobile vendors, including such approaches as broadening the zones and locations in which vendors are permitted to sell (4,5).

In Oakland, California, mobile vendors known as fruteros sell fresh, precut, and bagged fruit (6-9). Since 2001, these vendors have complied with city regulations and health codes requiring a central kitchen (9). However, local regulations prohibit mobile food vendors — including these fruteros — from selling near schools and parks (10). Such regulations exist in other cities such as Phoenix, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; and San Jose, California (4). We are unaware of any school or city policies that encourage improved food access for schoolchildren through mobile vendors.

The objective of this study was to examine the extent to which schoolchildren purchased fruits and vegetables from a frutero after school. Secondary objectives were to compare frutero sales with those of competing vendors and examine the effect of the frutero on the greater mobile vending environment.

We conducted this pilot intervention outside an elementary school campus (kindergarten through 5th grade) in Oakland, California. During the 2008–2009 academic year, there were 279 students; 41% were Hispanic, 33% were African American, 15% were Asian, less than 1% were white, and 74% were eligible for free or reduced price lunch (11).

We found 2 types of competing vendors: an ice cream vendor and a cotton candy vendor. At least 1 competing vendor was present for 12 afternoons (Table 1). Of the frutero’s 233 consumers, 59% were elementary school students; for 27% of frutero transactions, no adults were present (Table 2).

The frutero sold an average of 17.7 bags of fruits and vegetables each afternoon during an average of 26 minutes of sales, and for the last 5 days of observation, at least 20 bags were sold each afternoon. Overall, the frutero sold 248 bags during 324 minutes of observed sales (an approximate rate of 0.8 bags per minute) (Table 1). A β coefficient of 0.95 (P < .001) for frutero sales suggests 1 additional bag was sold on each successive day; a β coefficient of −1.48 (P = .02) for sales of competing vendors suggests 1.5 fewer nonnutritious items were sold on each successive day.

We completed quarter-mile buffer observations in an average of 12.8 minutes. The mean number of nonintervention vendors decreased: 2.3 (range, 0–4; standard deviation [SD], 1.3) before, 1.4 (range, 0–3; SD, 1.1) during, and 0.8 (range, 0–2; SD, 0.9) after the intervention.

Fruteros are found in neighborhoods that have a high density of Hispanic immigrants; children and adults buy precut fruits and vegetables from these vendors even in the presence of other vendors selling nonnutritious options (2). Students in our study also made purchases on their own. The number items sold by fruteros per minute in our study was higher than that previously observed in the community (0.4 items per min) (2).

This study has limitations. It was a brief intervention at a single school. We cannot confirm that children purchased fruits and vegetables instead of high-calorie energy-dense snacks; future research on how “healthy” mobile vendors affect overall consumption is warranted. By study end, we found fewer competing vendors, perhaps because of competition from the frutero, who had a prime location, or perhaps because the other vendors, who are not permitted to sell near the school, were concerned about scrutiny.

We demonstrated the feasibility of a sanctioned vendor to sell nutritious food items after school and suggest that the presence of this vendor may decrease sales at vendors selling less healthful items. Interventions like ours have the potential to increase access to healthful food to children in the after-school environment.