LOS ANGELES — A food desert is an area where community members have limited access to a variety of healthy foods. Experts say they pose a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of residents in South Los Angeles living in them. 

As block leader for the Vermont Knolls Residence Association, Elle Perrault said she deeply cares about creating a sense of wellbeing in her community, which is why she and other neighbors have been fighting so hard for healthy food options. 

 “A quality neighborhood has Trader Joe's, Costco, Home Depot, all the things that make home they want that and that quality," Perrault explained. "That's a quality city.”

It's an issue that LA City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who presides over the 8th District that includes South LA, said he's been fighting since before he took office. This isn't just a food desert, he said, it's a food apartheid. 

“Apartheid is something human beings do. And we feel as if the grocery corporations have made a decision to abandon certain neighborhoods, and ours is one of them, you know, over a half dozen closures, during the time that I've been working on it all, you all done by huge corporations where the CEO makes tens of millions of dollars a year," he explained. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Trader Joe's said, "We are actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country, including within District 8. We are growing, opening more new neighborhood stores each year. If customers have specific locations to recommend in their neighborhood, we have a form on our website...While there are no guarantees, being wanted matters to us."

To access that form, click here.