'Food Desert' Status Denied To 3 Million New Yorkers Without Grocery Stores

Lynne Harris inches her cane forward, wincing in pain as her arthritic knees struggle to make each step along six long Brooklyn blocks leading to her grocery store.

The painful trial brings Harris, 53, to one of East New York's largest grocery stores where the selection doesn't thrill, but surely beats the unhealthy options on the shelves of her corner bodega. And then she has to walk home, laden with her purchases.

"I travel a lot to get decent food," Harris, who also has an ankle deformity, bemoaned of the trek. "It's extremely painful. Some days, when it's humid or raining, it's almost impossible."

Her experience is at the heart of a disagreement between city officials and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which sees Harris' food situation as perfectly fine.

The USDA claims East New York is not a food desert – meaning a neighborhood that lacks adequate supermarkets.

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