The Health of Those Who Feed Us: An Assessment of Health Inequities Along the United States Food Chain

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baron, Sherry L. ; Li J ; Silver, Sharon R. ; Vignola EF
• Description:
  While the health of all depends on the food chain, few studies have focused systematically on the health of food chain workers themselves (production, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and commercial and institutional services). In this study we used 2018 and 2019 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to examine health-related metrics of food chain workers, combined and by industry sector, compared to non-food chain workers, among 32 U.S. states. Logistic regression indicated U.S. food chain workers had higher prevalences of barriers to health care access, smoking, no physical exercise, and poor self-reported health than all other workers. Patterns were similar among food chain workers in all industry sectors except wholesale. Additionally, commercial food services workers had higher prevalence of poor mental health, while institutional food services workers had higher prevalences of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension than all other workers. We discuss implications of these results for interventions, with specific attention to improving employment conditions. Food chain worker health is critical for food system sustainability and population health equity. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Food Handling Food Industry Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Food Workers Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS Employment Conditions Food Chain Food Services Health Care Health Care Access Health Status Mental Health
• ISSN:
  2755-1938
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Chicago Region [OSHA] ; New York ; New York City Region [OSHA] ; Ohio ; San Francisco Region [OSHA] ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  148-161
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070215
• Citation:
  Int J Soc Determinants Health Health Serv 2025 Apr; 55(2):148-161
• Contact Point Address:
  Emilia F. Vignola, University of Washington School of Public Health, 3890 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, USA
• Email:
  evignola@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9d5d752899cfe7228f97223c27c3f66c1cebd8d03389ce54cac8501049be94e4161c33063eae10f71e0bf437f7faef1835766cb4cc616ac61dfe0ab765be9f6c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208469/cdc_208469_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 440.16 KB ]