UC Davis Research Helps Inform Local Tobacco Policy

Tobacco products and food often share shelf space in neighborhood stores. A research team led by the University of California, Davis, examined those shelves to see whether a Sacramento city policy was actually increasing access to healthy food.

In 2020, the Sacramento City Council amended the city’s Tobacco Retailers Ordinance to add a Healthy Food Exemption. The ordinance limits the concentration of tobacco retailers in neighborhoods and requires new stores to be at least 1,000 feet from existing ones. The exemption allowed certain businesses to bypass those limits by devoting no more than 5% of shelf space to tobacco and at least 10% to healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat and fresh baked goods.

Examining the policy

Allie Reimold, a postdoctoral scholar with the Department of Human Ecology, was the lead author of a policy brief that shows 21% of retailers that set up shop using the exemption were compliant.

“The goal of the exemption was to increase healthy food access in Sacramento, but unfortunately, the policy doesn’t seem to have accomplished that,” Reimold said.

Working with the UC Davis Tobacco Cessation Policy Research Center and Saving Our Legacy, African Americans for Smoke Free Safe Places (SOL) Project, a community-based public health organization, the research team found that noncompliance was largely driven by a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables: 41% of retailers had fresh fruits and only 41% had fresh vegetables.

Researchers conducted in-store observations between September and October 2025 to survey what products were – and were not – available at 29 Sacramento retailers that used the exemption. They found large sections of stores were devoted to tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks. Reimold said even retailers that did stock fresh produce often had limited or low-quality options, including brown bananas.

The exemption aimed to increase healthy food options in low-income neighborhoods with limited food access. But Reimold said just two stores opened in areas that the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as low-income/low-food access areas.

“We found that, in practice, the Healthy Food Exemption didn’t consistently achieve what it intended to,” Reimold said. “Most stores did not carry the healthy foods required of them and even fewer stores opened in communities that needed access to healthy food.”

Healthier options ahead

At a City Council meeting on July 21 (watch here), councilmembers unanimously voted to remove the exemption after research showed it wasn’t working as intended.

For Twlia Laster, a project director with the SOL Project, the research was also part of a broader conversation about policy and community needs.

“Sacramento is at an important turning point in its approach to commercial tobacco. The City has removed the Healthy Food Exemption, its General Plan recognizes tobacco retailers as an environmental justice concern, and city leaders are now examining tobacco waste and what a tobacco-free city could look like,” Laster said. “Research like the UC Davis evaluation of the Healthy Food Exemption is especially valuable because it gives communities and decision makers an opportunity to learn from Sacramento’s real-world experience, what worked, what did not, and whether well-intended policies produced the outcomes they were designed to achieve.”

Reimold sees an opportunity for policymakers, retailers and communities to work together to promote healthier choices.

“To phase out unhealthy products like tobacco, we need to lean into health-promoting products,” Reimold said. “I would love for City Council to work with retailers, researchers and advocates to identify products, like healthy foods and beverages, that could not only help retailers maintain their sales and profits but also promote health in the community.”