Center for Regional Food Systems

This annotated bibliography offers a foundation for learning and communicating about structural racism in the U.S. food system. Now on our 11th edition, the first iteration of this impactful resource was published in 2015.  

Structural racism in the United States has been defined as the “normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics—historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal—that routinely advantage Whites while producing cumulative and chronic outcomes for people of color.” 

This resource identifies literature that links the social construction of Whiteness and its intentional or consequential impact on structural racism within the United States’ local food movement. It is focused on recent peer-reviewed and gray literature* materials that are national, regional, and local in scope and that include significant references. 

This edition includes a total of 728 references to peer-reviewed articles, reports, books, videos, and more—that explore structural racism both across the national food system and in specific food sectors and geographies. Updates to the 11th edition include 88 new publication citations and 2 new video resources. The annotated format is useful for food systems practitioners, policymakers, researchers, educators, scholars, activists, and students. Most references in this and previous editions were crowd-sourced—collected via a nationwide request sent through food systems networks. 

New to this edition of the annotated bibliography is the introduction of themes. All 728 citations have been categorized across 14 themes which intend to showcase the breadth of research into a topic as well as the intersection of ideas across themes. These themes aim to make it easier for readers to explore this vast library of sources.    

The Themes  

• Activism: Frameworks, Reflection, and Tools 
• Agricultural Production and Food Systems Labor
• Cultural Foodways and Storytelling 
• Economic Impacts and Markets 
• Educational Institutions & Extension Services 
• Federal Policy & Governance: Action, Effects, & Analysis 
• Food Assistance & Public Assistance Programs 
• Health, Wellness and Nutrition 
• Historical Patterns, Practice, and Trends 
• Identity Politics and Experiences 
• Land: Loss, Access, & Rights 
• Local Policy: Analysis, Tools, & Organized Activism 
• Models, Frameworks, & Theory 
• Place, Location, & Community-Based Experiences 

The references and themes are also reflected in a Zotero group library to make it easier for users to access and cite the annotated bibliography sources. Zotero is a free online citation management software.   

Using Zotero 

A Zotero group library is available for the references cited in this document. Zotero is a free software that lets users easily save, manage, and cite sources. You can create an online account at zotero.org or download the free desktop application, which allows you to sync with the group library and save documents to your computer. All the citations in the 11th edition are tagged in Zotero so that the user can filter the resources. 

Below is short tutorial video demonstrating how to use Zotero to access the citations. 

Suggested Citation

Kelly, R., Burnstein, S., Pirog, R., Carr, K., Guel, A., Henderson, J., Johnson-Chappell, M. J., Wilcox, K., Wimberg, T., García Polanco, V., Babayode, D., Watson, K., & Nelson, E. (2025). An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System (11th ed.). Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. https://foodsystems.msu.edu/resources/structural_racism_in_us_food_system 

We want to hear from you!

The Center for Regional Food Systems is seeking new citation submissions for the next edition of An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System. We are seeking citations that refer to research, analysis, outreach, and commentary on BOTH structural racism AND the U.S. food system.  

Share your Citation Suggestions Here

Please submit all submissions via this google form or send directly to Rachel Kelly at kellyra2@msu.edu. 

*Gray literature is the general name for scholarly or substantive information produced outside traditional commercial publishing and distribution channels. Common publication types include: theses and dissertations; technical reports; working papers; evaluation reports; conference proceedings; publications from NGOs, INGOs, think tanks and policy institutes; patent, and preprints.

3/12/2025: An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the Food System, 11th Edition was updated due to a file error. This publication preserves the citations and resources as published in January 2025. The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems is not responsible for broken links or missing resources from external sources. 

This work was supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.