Food Insecurity Issues

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 14.5 percent of U.S. households—nearly 49 million Americans, including 15.9 million children—were food insecure during the year in 2012, meaning they lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members (ers.usda.gov).  Poverty is the principal cause of hunger, which means that the causes of poverty like lack of education, and unemployment lead up to hunger as well. Hunger is also caused by rising food prices and food deserts like the one the city of Detroit has. In the city of Detroit, the most accessible food-related establishments are party stores, dollar stores, fast-food restaurants and

Food insecurity is an issue seeing growth in Ontario which has an impact on thousands of people annually. It is defined as when an individual does not have adequate or sufficient access to healthy, nutritious food which prevents him or her from maintaining a healthy and active life.Some causes of food insecurity includes low income or unemployment, location, gender, race, physical or mental illness or disabilities and more. From the research I have done, nearly 10 percent of all Ontarians have suffered from food insecurity at least one in his or her life. As we learnt in class,  few programs effective with the creation of a solution for the problem such as Northern Food Canada. Though benefits of Northern Food Canada exist, there were flaws

In 2013 the national poverty rate rose to include 13.2% of the population. 1 in 7 people were at risk of suffering from hunger in the United States. In addition, 3.5 million people were forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, in shelters or cars (Anonymous, 1). The combination of the high cost of living, low-wage jobs, and high unemployment rates will only cause more problems and force countless Americans to choose between food, housing, and other expenses. Studies show that money devoted to food is typically the first to be sacrificed. Families will often pay their fixed payments first, such as rent and utilities, rather than pay for food. Unfortunately, these problems will only continue to grow if our society does not make it a national priority to address them in any concrete

Many underprivileged families suffer from food poverty. They lack access to food due to several factors. Lack of proper nutrition leads these families to health conditions such as heart disease or diabetes. Malnutrition is major issue even with all these different ways to obtain food. Several programs were created such as the Food Rescue Organization, Food Stamp Program, Hunger Relief Organization, National School Lunch Program, WIC, and much more. All of these programs have a common goal, to provide meals to families and students who are otherwise unable to obtain food due to financial conditions. Yet, there is still a meal gap of 81,367,396 missing meals in Nevada. That’s ridiculous! What’s even crazier is that more children lived in poverty

There are a variety of reasons of why food insecurity exists within the United States. One of the reasons for food insecurity is the varying income level of families and individuals. Lower-income families may not have access to healthier food options, and may not have the required transportation it may take to gain access to healthier food choices. 2(p31) Many low and even middle-income families can find it often difficult to spend the amount of money need for healthy food when lower quality and lower price food is more attainable. For many people who are worried when or

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a “lack of access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.” One significant factor that contributes to food insecurity is poverty. Given the relatively high cost of fresh produce and other healthy food, families living at or near the poverty line sometimes

Food insecurity levels are the highest levels in the United States since the Great Depression, and Georgia has the fourth highest rate of food insecurity(www.atlantalocalfood.org/tag/food-insecurity). The USDA defines food insecurity as the lack of consistent access to adequate food resulting from the lack of money and other resources during the year (USDA, 2016), since hunger and malnutrition cannot be directly attributable to global food scarcity, it may be concluded with that their cause lies in the uneven distribution of food, land and other productive resources (Windfuhr and Jonzen, 2001). Economic and Physical and access to food is a fundamental issue in all definitions of food insecurity. Per the World Health Organization, this concept

Food insecurity is not only a problem faced by developing nations. It is a problem that also affects the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture indicates that 42 million people living in the United States come from food insecure households, 13 million of whom are children (Coleman-Jensen, A., Rabbit, M., Gregory, C., & Singh, A, 2015). Food wastes is also an issue for developed nations. Food loss due to poor harvesting techniques, food loss during transportation, food cosmetics, and consumer education contribute to food waste. The United States rejects 20-30% of crops that make it to the marketplace and 30% of harvests never make it to the marketplace. A staggering 50% of consumer food purchases are wasted in the home (Fox,

“Millions of working Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from” (“New Face of Hunger,” n.d). There are kids that are going to school without breakfast, coming home and not having a meal for supper either. The most some kids have for food is their lunch provided by the schools. Parents have to go starve throughout the days and come home to their children hunger because all they have eaten is the lunch from school, and yet they only eat what is left from his or hers child’s plate, if there is any even left. Families are using what they get from food stamps, or SNAP, which the amount went from $205 to $172 in a month. This money is not enough to get a family with children through the whole month. Some people are going pay check to pay check barley meeting ends.

Unfortunately, the Barnett family is unable to provide every meal for their children. In New Mexico, the government’s poverty threshold is $26,023. The Barnett’s only take in an average of $15,000 per year. Prior to the 2007 economic crash, the Barnett family was able to live off of their income with some help from the government. The aid was in the form of food stamps that allowed Mrs. Barnett to go to the food market and buy food just like any other family. Unfortunately when

Rather, change must come from the ground up, built from recent pushes towards recognition of “privilege,” and using that self-awareness to help those less fortunate than us. The United Nations Environment Programme says, “the numbers are not promising … (but) we can do a lot to change the situation,” mostly by “thinking, eating, and saving” more mindfully in how we treat ourselves, different people around us, and our environment through food consumption. Anne-Marie Hamelin, Jean-Pierre Habicht, and Micheline Beaudry hammer this home, in their article dealing with “Food Insecurity: Consequences for the Household and Broader Social Implications,” directly linking “food insecurity” with “important social implications” towards the “manifestations” it entails. Conclusively, this issue is all too relevant in its being “key (to) aspects of human

It is said that at least 50 million Americans in the United States exist without food. This figure is one that many Americans cannot seem to wrap their head around. How is it that the richest nation in the World has so many hungry citizens? In the movie “A Place at the Table,” food insecurity and eating habits in the United States, are the center point of the film. The film starts off with the stories of real people fighting against hunger and poverty in the United States. It gives the viewers a sense of how these Americans have to struggle day to day in order to feed their families and their selves, by giving us an insight on how they live their life. The film shows how they have to make rational decision on how they spend their money and on how they eat. What is meant by, “how they eat,” is that since they have limited funds they have to go for the cheaper items, which are processed foods. The striking film then goes on to give us the reasons as to why we have these problems and how to combat them.

Remember the good old days? As children running around town and going to Casey’s to cause a ruckus, or going to Lake Viking to pass the time? We were smiling, joyful, and content, allowed to dream about the future. Never once considering where our next meal would come from, unlike 13 million children in America going hungry each year. As a society, we waste money, time, and, most importantly, food. Most of the time focusing on ourselves, our families, and our friends, not giving a second thought to anyone else. Often, we do not realize the effects that our actions have on others in our community. We keep on being selfish, instead of selfless. The problem with America is that most of us lack the responsibility or dedication to provide food for our families.

The view points of the clients who have food insecurity feel as though they do not have help. As of right now the poverty level is about $23,000 per year. Those who fall below this number are subjected to become dependent on welfare even though they don’t want to. Those who are slightly above the poverty line

Nearly 15 % of household in the United State live under the banner of food insecurity and sadly this statistic has continued to rise. This issue stems not from the lack of food but is caused by poverty. In the United State we produce 2x more food than we need per person. The rise of income inequality has progressed to the point where it is now a public health crisis. It astonished to believe we live in the wealthiest country in the world and 1 and 6 households do not have the income to provide for their families and themselves enough food to sustain a healthy diet.