Ridding New York of its 'food deserts'

Ray Salaberrios grew up in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx where there were no decent supermarkets, only run-down bodegas. The food was not always the best or the healthiest.

"Whatever the bodega had we ate," Salaberrios said.

He now directs economic revitalization for the Empire State Development Corp., and at Farmingdale State College Thursday he outlined a new three-year, $30-million incentive program. It will provide grants and low-interest loans to business people and supermarkets willing to build stores that sell healthy, nutritious foods - such as fresh meats and vegetables - or stock existing shelves with such goods.

The money - $10 million from the state and $20 million from the investment bank Goldman Sachs - comes from the New York Healthy Food and Healthy Communities Fund established last year by Gov. David A. Paterson.

The program is aimed at poor neighborhoods lacking stores with healthy food, places Salaberrios called "food deserts." He said the state fund would make investments in 27 areas of the state. No money has yet been designated, he added.

Andrea Lohneiss, Empire State Development's Long Island director, said, "We're getting the word out to supermarket operators" about the program.