Food Security in the U.S. - ERS report

A new USDA Economic Research Service report considers Household Food Security in the U.S. Among the surprising finding; of those who are food insecure (my translation: hungry ) only about half participate in any federal food nutrition program. From the summary:

In 2007, 88.9 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the year, a level that was essentially unchanged from 2005 (89.0 percent) and 2006 (89.1 percent). Food-secure households had consistent access to enough food for active healthy lives for all household members at all times during the year. The remaining 11.1 percent (13 million households) were food insecure. These households, at some time during the year, had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. About one-third of food-insecure households (4.7 million, or 4.1 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security, essentially unchanged from 2005 (3.9 percent) and 2006 (4.0 percent). In households with very low food security, the food intake of some household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns disrupted because of the household’s food insecurity. The other two-thirds of food-insecure households obtained enough food to avoid substantial disruptions in eating patterns and food intake, using a variety of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, or obtaining emergency food from community food pantries or emergency kitchens. Even when resources are inadequate to provide food for the entire family, children are usually shielded from the disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake that characterize very lowfood security. However, children as well as adults xperienced instances of very low food security in 323,000 households (0.8 percent of households with children) in 2007, up from 221,000 households (0.6 percent of households with children) in 2006. On a given day, the number of households with very low food security was a small fraction of the number that experienced this condition “at some time during the year.” On average, households classified as having very low food security experienced the condition in 7 months of the year, for a few days in each of those months. On an average day in November 2007, for example, an estimated 609,000 to 941,000 households (0.5-0.8 percent of all U.S. households) had members who experienced very low food security, and children experienced these conditions in 45,000 to 65,000 households (0.11 to 0.17 percent of all U.S. households with children). The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably among different types of households. Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the Federal poverty line, households with children headed by single women, and Black and Hispanic households. Geographically, food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas and, regionally, more prevalent in the South than in the Northeast and Midwest.
Food-secure households spent more for food than food-insecure households. In 2007, the median U.S. household spent $42.50 per person for food each week—about 20 percent more than the cost of USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan (a low-cost food “market basket” that meets dietary standards, taking into account household size and the age and gender of household members). The median food-secure household spent 24 percent more than the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan, while the median food-insecure household spent 8 percent less than the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan. Some food-insecure households turn to Federal food and nutrition assistance programs or emergency food providers in their communities when they are unable to obtain enough food. Just over half of the food-insecure households surveyed in 2007 said that in the previous month they had participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs—the National School Lunch Program, the Food Stamp Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). About 21 percent of food-insecure households obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year, and 2.7 percent ate one or more meals at an emergency kitchen in their community.