American Food Insecurity

by Charles Lemos,

It is the bleakest of news. In this country of plenty and nearly at the eve of our national celebration of thanks and remembrance, the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reported that 49 million Americans, or one in six, face food insecurity. The number represents a 36 percent rise year over year. Food stamps are now at all time record use with some 36 million Americans receiving a monthly assistance. Over the past two years, the rolls of those on food stamps have increased by 40 percent.

From the New York Times:


The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls "food insecurity" 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.

The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession's punishing effect on jobs and wages.

About a third of these struggling households had what the researchers called "very low food security," meaning lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point in the year.

The other two-thirds typically had enough to eat, but only by eating cheaper or less varied foods, relying on government aid like food stamps, or visiting food pantries and soup kitchens.

"These numbers are a wake-up call for the country," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.


Twenty-nince percent of Hispanic households reported food insecurity, compared with 27 percent of black households and 12 percent of white households. Serious problems were most prevalent in the South, then followed by the West and Midwest. Households headed by single mothers were the highest category among those facing food insecurity. About 37 percent of these reported some form of food insecurity compared with 14 percent of married households with children. Comprising the 49 food insecure Americans are 32.4 million adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million children (22.5 percent of all children).

The terms used in the DOA survey to describe food security are:

* High Food Security: These are households that did not answer `yes' to any of the food insecurity questions.

* Marginal Food Security: This term captures families that answered `yes' to one or two of the food security questions, meaning they have has some difficulties with securing enough food.

* Low Food Security: Generally, people that fall into this category have had to make changes in the quality or the quantity of their food in order to deal with a limited budget.

* Very Low Food Security: People that fall into this category have struggled with having enough food for the household, including cutting back or skipping meals on a frequent basis for both adults and children.

Conservatives were quick to dismiss the findings. "Very few of these people are hungry," said Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it's a far cry from a hunger crisis."

Learn more on hunger in the United States from the Food Research and Action Center, a non-profit working to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States.