American Food Insecurity

Brainteaser

merican Food Insecurity by Charles Lemos, Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 01:19:08 AM EST
                It is the bleakest of news. In thiscountry of plenty and nearly at the eve of our national celebration ofthanks and remembrance, the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsackreported that 49 million Americans, or one in six, face foodinsecurity. The number represents a 36 percent rise year over year.Food stamps are now at all time record use with some 36 millionAmericans receiving a monthly assistance. Over the past two years, therolls of those on food stamps have increased by 40 percent.
From the New York Times:

The number of Americans who lived in households thatlacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls"food insecurity" 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reportedMonday.The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than eventhe most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and castan alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession'spunishing effect on jobs and wages.
About a third of these struggling households had what theresearchers called "very low food security," meaning lack of moneyforced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food atsome point in the year.
The other two-thirds typically had enough to eat, but only by eatingcheaper or less varied foods, relying on government aid like foodstamps, 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 foodinsecurity, compared with 27 percent of black households and 12 percentof white households. Serious problems were most prevalent in the South,then followed by the West and Midwest. Households headed by singlemothers were the highest category among those facing food insecurity.About 37 percent of these reported some form of food insecuritycompared 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 ofall 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 havehas some difficulties with securing enough food.
* Low Food Security: Generally, people that fall into this categoryhave had to make changes in the quality or the quantity of their foodin order to deal with a limited budget.
* Very Low Food Security: People that fall into this category havestruggled with having enough food for the household, including cuttingback or skipping meals on a frequent basis for both adults and children.
Conservatives were quick to dismiss the findings. "Very few of thesepeople are hungry," said Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservativeHeritage Foundation. "When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind offood they buy. That is regrettable, but it's a far cry from a hungercrisis."
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-privatepartnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the UnitedStates.