Holly Freishtat, Baltimore's recently hired food policy czar, has a big job -- creating a healthier food environment for Baltimore residents. And, she's the only city official of her kind in the country.
Here's an excerpt:
"A study of Baltimore neighborhoods found that nearly a fifth of its 630,000 residents live with little or no access to fresh foods � neighborhoods often described as "food deserts." Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of adults and nearly half of all high school students are overweight or obese and the death rate from heart disease is 30 percent higher than in the rest of Maryland.
Freishtat works out of the planning department, and her job is to implement the 10 recommendations for improving the city's food system made last December by Baltimore's food policy task force. They include expanding access to farmers markets, community gardens and community-supported agriculture; improving the food served in city schools; and pushing for new zoning laws that remove roadblocks to food production and sales."
Read the entire article here.