Characterizing Profiles of Alternative Food Source Utilization Among New Food Bank Users in Urban, Semi-Urban, and Rural Settings in Quebec (Canada)

This study aimed to characterize alternative food source (AFS) utilization profiles among newly registered food bank (FB) users in urban, semi-urban, and rural settings. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on the baseline data of the Pathways Study, a cohort of newly registered FB-users in Québec (2018–2020). Participants aged between 18–63 responsible for household food acquisition (n = 990) were included. Latent class analysis was used to classify FB-users into three latent AFS utilization profiles: FB-Exclusive-users, FB-Fruit/Vegetable-Market-users, and Multiple-AFS-users. The socio-demographic factors related to AFS utilization profiles vary across settings. These differences should be considered to improve AFS access.