Mobile food market to bring fresh produce to needed areas

Long Beach plans to launch a mobile food market program to increase the availability of fresh produce in neighborhoods that have poor access to quality fruits and vegetables.

The Mobile Healthy Food Market, which would be operated by an independent vendor with experience in fresh produce retail, is intended to increase the availability of fresh produce in communities without easy access to it.

It would also provide options to improve the health and wellness for residents, particularly those in West, Central and North Long Beach, according to Jennifer Rice Epstein, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The pilot program, which has already received city council approval, would be funded with $750,000 from the Long Beach Recovery Act, a plan created to use federal allocations to support economic and health initiatives to benefit residents, workers and local businesses recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

That money would also be used to purchase and furnish a new mobile food truck for the program.

The idea, Rice Epstein said, is to have a contractor with defined coverage routes drive the food truck, visit certain neighborhoods that lack supermarkets or small fruit retailers, set up shop for a few hours a day, and move on to the next service spot at least four days a week.

“The deal,” Rice Epstein said, “is to bring healthy foods to neighborhoods that may be considered as food deserts.”

Neighborhoods in West, Central and North Long Beach, she said, are considered to be “historically underserved,” and the program aligns with a strategy to foster healthy market partnerships, farmers' markets, community gardens and pop-up farm stands in such areas.

Currently, the health department is considering bids from organizations or qualified vendors to implement and operate the MHFM.

Only one proposal will be picked for

funding. The period for filing bids is open; the deadline to submit documents is 11 a.m. Dec. 5.

The city is looking to have a vendor by, and execute the contract, in winter 2024 according to the Request for Proposals, which details how to submit a bid to run the program.

Inflation, business closures and related wage losses and unemployment

because of the pandemic has caused public food assistance in Long Beach to rise recently, the RFP says.

Because of that, MHFM communities would be able to buy fresh foods and vegetables with EBT cards, if they receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or CalFresh.

A mobile market that travels to communities without supermarkets and sells fresh produce “at, or below the cost of large retail food stores” can increase access to healthy, affordable and “culturally

relevant” foods for low-income seniors, families and individual households, said the 31-page document RFP, prepared by the health department.

The chosen vendor should operate at least four days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays, at two sites per day, for a minimum of two hours per stop.

Goods should be sold at average or below-average prices compared to stocked produce for sale at Long Beach supermarkets. Unsold food should be donated or composted.

Depending on the pilot program's success and on available funds, the city would consider extending it for three years, with contracts renewed once a year.

“If you are a person who feels you can operate a (produce) truck, we want to hear from you,” Rice Epstein said. “Make sure you submit a bid.”

A virtual information session will be held via Zoom at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Questions related to the program should be emailed at rfpurchasing@longbeach.gov before Nov. 8.