Analysis Of Hunger In America

How a national food policy could save millions of American lives discusses the lack of a national food policy in America and how the food industry affects people and the world. Examples of issues that a nation food policy could alleviate include Americans access to healthy food and reducing the carbon footprint from food production. The article also discusses how special interests flourish from issues related to the food industry while citizens and the environment suffer.

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

The USDA claims that each year, 25.9 million tons of America’s food is thrown away, the equivalent to a quarter of the total amount produced. Nationally, the wasted food is a damaging financial setback, amounting to $1 billion just to get rid of during a time of ascending food prices, nonetheless (Oliver, 2007). Food waste has skyrocketed since 1970 at an astonishing 50% increase rate, yet according to the FAO, one-sixth of America doesn’t get enough to eat.

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

In the foreword, Bridges states he and the political will are part of the problem of hidden hunger in America. He does not give us much information on what he was not doing before he decided to help. Bridges also states that we could help end this problem just as much as anyone else can, but he never furthers the thought after this. Bridges could inform us on what he meant when he was the problem and how we individual's reading this could help end this problem. We do not see ads on television telling us the people in our own country are starving. The politicians have so much power and if they are standing for what they believe in then most would think there would be no hunger in America. The politicians should be making sure that everyone

Hunger is a big social issue facing America today. According to (“Do Something.com”) 1 out of 6 people face hunger in the US. Also 49 Million Americans Struggle to put food on the table. America is the best country in world, we shouldn’t have so many people hungry. Many people have thought of fixing this problem but one company has found a way to help fix this problem, this company is Feeding America. They have been giving people food since 1979. They’ve helped out 46 million Americans. ( feedingamerica.org )

Every person in America is guilty of this almost daily in some way or another, and that is wasting food by either letting it rot in your refrigerator, taking too much at dinner and throwing what is left into the garbage for some varmint to rummage through later, or even in the production process by throwing away a perfectly good potato because it doesn’t meet the size requirement for processing. In America, it’s something we don’t think about; rather it’s just a habit that causes us to lose money on that wasted food. Something we seem to forget about, however, is the fact that there are starving people in other parts of the world that could have benefitted from that. Contrariwise, American’s are not the only ones that can be accused of

But if we join together we could make big changes in one or more ways. The first step toward changing our food system is lobbying together for higher wages and lowering the prices of health foods. Industries are always against raising the minimum wage, because it would lower the need for the underprivileged to buy their cheap genetically modified foods which would hurt those said industries. Joel Berg, Executive Director, New York City Coalition against Hunger said “The biggest problem with food in America is not enough people can afford it. Forty-nine million Americans live in households that can’t afford enough food, so all the talk about organic, locavore delightfulness and fresh arugula is great. But if you’re in a family that can’t even afford the junk food you’re surviving for now, it’s a secondary issue. The way to fix it is the way we almost ended hunger in the 70s: by having more jobs, paying higher wages, and ensuring that there’s an adequate safety net to fill in the gap. It’s quite simple, we know what works, we know what worked in Scandinavia, we know what’s worked in the past in America, and if we do these simple things, we can end hunger in America almost overnight.” Which begs the question why does our government make it so hard to afford food when we produce 30 million tons of food waste each year!

Food is simply too good to waste. And while the loss of some food is inevitable, the amount of food Americans waste everyday has reached an all time high, and still continues to grow. The process by which food is produced uses 10% of the national energy budget, 50% of U.S. land, and 80% of the freshwater in the United States. (Gunders, 2012). Yet, 40% or 133 billion pounds of the food grown in this country goes to waste every year (Buzby, 2014). Reducing food losses by just 15% would be enough to feed more than 25 million Americans every year, when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables (Gunders, 2012). Schools are one of the largest contributors to plate waste. A study by Richard Cohen reveals that plate waste accounts

Millions of people deal with hunger daily while the United States, as well as other developed countries, waste enough edible food to feed every hungry person on the planet. “Forty percent of the food in the United States

Food waste can be defined as the failure to consume edible food due to inappropriate human action. Each year, the United States of America grows more than 595 billion pounds of different kinds of food. Although this is more than enough food, “the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that roughly 30 to 40 percent of food grown in the United States each year is sent to landfills” (NewsChannel 1). Meanwhile, another research showed that “in 1974 approximately 900 kcal per person per day was wasted whereas in 2003 Americans wasted ,1400 kcal per person per day or 150 trillion kcal per year”(Hall, Guo, Dore and Chow 1). It is estimated that since 1974 America’s food waste per capita has increased by more than 55 percent. The data further explains that as compared to developing countries, developed countries throw away more food. The sad truth about this scenario is while an American is throwing way food, an individual in other parts of the world is dying from malnutrition or chronic hunger. Such occurrences explain that dealing with the problem of hunger is not about producing more food rather it is about proper distribution and saving food which is available because it is more than enough. Food wastage has become a global issue of concern with governments trying the best to minimize the trend. More people gradually recognize the negative implications associated with food waste and the importance of cutting food waste. American should be more sensitive to this issue so that

The United States of America and a myriad of other countries are operating on a flawed food distribution system. Americans alone waste nearly thirty four million tons of food each year (Dominguez 29). However, it is difficult to believe this statistic when there are more than forty million Americans suffering for food insecurity, which is also known as hunger (Bloom 43). With the amount of food being wasted each year increasing, the amount of people suffering from hunger is also rising. Food waste is a practice causing millions of people to hungry, yet through the reuse and recycling of food, this trend can be reversed.

Food waste is high all around the United States, the fact that we waste food that could help people in need with food that goes to waste sounds like the best option. Hunger in America is normally affecting unemployed and low-income people. Many people rely on food banks and soup kitchens to get food even with that people are left hungry. This paper will show how food waste from grocery and food corporations can help change food waste numbers and waste in America. Ensuring food safe to eat by getting useful food at the right time, finding companies willing to help, and having laws that help companies give food to charities. The hunger problem in this country could all change if food waste of good food would be donated.

“In 2012, enough food was discarded at the retail and consumer levels alone to provide 2,000 kcal per day to 84% of the US adult population” (Spiker et al). In comparison to this fact, it is also estimated that 14.6 percent of US households are labeled “food insecure” (Bartfield et al). It is deeply concerning that a large portion of the US population faces hunger on a daily basis while so much food is being wasted just at the consumer and retail levels. Furthermore, this wasted food does not account for the food that never even sees the market due to over-production—food deemed “unfit” for the market, spillage, etc. This means there is even more food wasted that could provide for the hungry.

World hunger is an ever-prominent obstacle that handicaps nearly a seventh of earth’s population. According to Mission 2014, an organization dedicated to fighting world hunger, “thirty-five percent of all childhood deaths are attributed to undernutrition” (2010). Throughout my experience with volunteering at a food pantry, I saw how much food was being given away, as well as being thrown out because of how much excess food was beginning to expire. This made me wonder if the world’s problem isn’t a lack of food, but in reality, a faulty distribution system (see Figure 1 below). In “Global Food Scarcity: Definition, Distribution, Roadblocks”, Jaclyn Tan suggests that “Human institutions, such as government, public policy and aid organizations” can “step in to reduce a scarcity of food” (Tan). She informs the reader that the purpose of these institutions is to “produce and distribute food” as well as “import and export food if there are shortages or excesses” (Tan). When considering the amount of people in the world who are starving, it is obvious there is an indisputable need for change. Even with these human institutions in place, the world needs corrected solutions to fix the failing distribution system. By looking at countries that have distribution systems in place already, solutions can be found that will further improve upon those systems as well as create solutions for developing countries.