Health and Safety - Hunger

Food insecurity is defined as the lack of access to enough food to meet basic needs. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2002 88.9% of U.S. households were food secure (Household Food Security in the United States, 2002). However, the remaining twelve million U.S. households (11.1%) experienced food insecurity at some time during the year. A higher percentage of children than adults were food insecure (18.1% and 10.5%, respectively), and almost one out of every hundred children were hungry on one or more days during the year. Households with incomes below the poverty line, households with children headed by a single woman, and African-American and Hispanic households were the most likely to experience food insecurity.

Households that are experiencing food insecurity tend to go through a sequence of steps as food insecurity increases: first, families begin to worry about having enough food, then they begin to decrease other necessities, then they reduce the quality and quantity of all household members' diets, then decrease the frequency of meals and quantity of adult members' food, and finally they decrease the frequency of meals and the quantity of children's food.

Emergency Food Assistance

Second Harvest, the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization, reported that in 2001 23.3 million Americans sought emergency food assistance. According to the USDA, in 2002 3% of all households used food pantries and 0.5% ate meals in emergency food centers (soup kitchens). A family with children headed by a single woman was most likely to receive this kind of food assistance. A December 2003 study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho (Hunger and Homelessness Survey: A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities 2003) found that requests for emergency food assistance increased by 17% throughout 2002, continuing a rapid increase in these requests; the 2002 requests had increased 19% over those in 2001. More than half (59%) of the people who requested food assistance were members of families with children. An average of 14% of the demand for such assistance was unmet. The most frequent reasons for hunger cited by city officials were unemployment, low-paying jobs, high housing and medical costs, homelessness, substance abuse and mental health problems, reduced public benefits, high childcare costs, and the weakening of the economy.