By Karen Talley and Annie Gasparro Of Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and SuperValu Inc. (SVU) on Wednesday morning said they will join with First Lady Michelle Obama to announce their latest efforts to bring food to areas that lack access to fresh and healthy offerings. Wal-Mart said it will open between 275 and 300 stores serving the Department of Agriculture designated "food desert" areas between now and 2016. These stores, in both urban and rural areas, largely populated by lower income consumers, will provide access to groceries for more than 800,000 people, Wal-Mart said. Since 2007, the company has opened 218 stores serving food deserts. SuperValu (SVU) said it will open 250 stores over the next five years in these underserved areas. SuperValu said this is part of its plan to double the number of Save-A-Lot over the next five years. The moves are also being cast as employment creation, providing tens of thousands of jobs. -By Annie Gasparro, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2244; annie.gasparo@dowjones.com -By Karen Talley, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2196; karen.talley@dowjones.com
