Living in Greater Barcelona: Too much ultra-processed food and too little fresh food
The AMB denounces inequalities between municipalities in access to healthy products and a high dependence on imports.
BarcelonaThe vast majority of the Barcelona metropolitan population (88.65%) lives in areas where the main food offering is ultra-processed products, with few fresh or healthy options. This is the warning from a study presented this Thursday by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) on food environments in the municipalities that make up Greater Barcelona. The report finds high territorial and social inequality in access to food.
![Low supply: Area with four or more establishments serving unhealthy food within a 400-meter radius. Low income: Less than or equal to 30% of the population with incomes below 60% of the median.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 3000 2010"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The AMB warns that this inequality is most pronounced in the poorest neighborhoods, where the population is exposed to a food supply dominated by high-calorie, cheap, and low-nutrient products, compared to a supply of organic foods that are inaccessible due to their high price. This phenomenon, known as "ecological mirrors," affects 7.6% of the metropolitan area, with very high peaks in areas such as Torrassa (95.8%), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Fondo (94.6%), Santa Coloma de Gramenet, and Ciudad Meridiana (84.7%).
In addition to exacerbating social inequalities, experts point out that the current food system is "fragile, unsustainable, and unfair." This method of food production exacerbates the climate emergency due to a heavy dependence on imports, the loss of agricultural land, and intensive use of energy and water.
In fact, local production is in decline: farmland represents only 8% of metropolitan land, mostly concentrated in the Llobregat Delta. This reduction in land dedicated to agricultural purposes has had an impact on the percentage of Catalan products sold at Mercabarna, which has fallen from 53% in 1988 to 15% in 2023. Over the same period, imports through international channels have fallen from 8% to 28%.
Faced with this scenario, the AMB proposes five strategic lines to change the current food model: promoting a metropolitan sustainability plan that strengthens short distribution circuits; making public data on the ecological and social impact of the system; directing investments toward a more sustainable food model; promoting public procurement of local and organic products; and creating wholesale markets closer to the territory.
Mercabarna plays an essential role.
The report also highlights Mercabarna's role as a strategic player in the transformation of the metropolitan food system. Although this large public platform was created with the aim of guaranteeing the supply of fresh produce to the population, its current operation reflects a growing dependence on global supply chains, which are increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical and climate crises.
At the end of the 1980s, more than half of the food sold at Mercabarna (52%) was locally sourced; today, that figure is less than 15%. This fragility became evident during the war in Ukraine, when the price of basic products such as milk and fresh fruit soared by more than 12% in the metropolitan region.
Citizen initiatives to combat the food crisis
The AMB is committed to integrating European programs with proven results, such as FoodCLIC, which has contributed to reducing obesity rates in metropolitan areas through territorially focused food policies centered on health, sustainability, and social justice.
In the Barcelona area, the project aims to foster cooperation between local stakeholders and strengthen citizen initiatives already underway to move toward a fairer, more sustainable, and healthier food system in neighborhoods such as Fondo (Santa Coloma) and Sant Cosme (El Prat). In the latter, under the name Cuina de Barri, a daily local, sustainable, and healthy meal is offered for just over 30 euros per month. This turns its headquarters into a space for community gatherings and contact with people at risk of exclusion.
Víctor Ténez, head of the Metropolitan Strategy and Resilience Service at the AMB, warns: "Food transformation is inevitable; it is already underway; the challenge is deciding how we want it to be."
