• Food insecurity globally
• Food insecurity in the United States
• Food insecurity programs
• Food Insecurity Affects
• Fighting Food Insecurity 8 Ways #fighting-food-insecurity-8-ways

Food Insecurity Globally

The issue of finding accessible food is worldwide, according to Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard, there are counties such as: Nigeria,and Central African Republic. Are all fighting food insecurity. A majority of Nigeria is in stressed conditions, per their methods key. Measures are on a one to four scale: stressed being families with minimal to adequate food consumption and able to afford non-essential food expenses outside of the house, without initiating in coping strategies. Other areas of Nigeria is in critical condition and refers to having large consumption gaps, and malnutrition, and are managing the situation through strategies such as personal asset selling. The split in Nigeria seems prevalent, with a few areas being able to afford food without the methods shown above. A portion of the country is dealing with a lack of proper nutrition and helping strategies, per the GCAFs graph below:

Figure 1: Chronic Food Insecurity, GAFS Figure 2: Latest Food Consumption Monitoring Information

Central African Republic shows the majority of the country is under critical and emergency conditions, per the GAFS. The large vast communities have gaps that are above or on par with top levels measuring malnutrition and are only able to cope through selling personal items. Cities such as Yalinga and Oudda alongside others are unable to have food without liquidation and emergency strategies, all correlated with malnutrition.

Food Insecurity in the United States

The U.S. Department Of Agriculture and Economic Research Service states that 89.8% of American households are food secure and 10.% faced a form of this problem at a point within that year. Reports of families in very low conditions were 3.8%/5.1 million houses. In 2001 to 2004, safety increased from 10.7% to 12 percent. Declines were reported in 2005 to 2007, as the number dropped to 11%. Towards to 2008, this number saw a jump of 2.6% and in 2011 the record was high at 14.6%. In 2020, this has remained unchanged, with a 10.5% rate. The issue also collided with the 2019 coronavirus, worsening the nation’s 1 in 4 family food security troubles; per an NPR newsletter.

An article by The U.S Bureau Labor Of Statistics shows the rates at 4.6% in 2021, a promising start as the previous year of 2020 was at 13% and reports showing the industry would recover. How does the unemployment rate affect food security? Less income, the economy is driven by selling and buying.

U.S Food Insecurity by household members reported through the USDA and ERS, showing that 32.1% of families were below the poverty line and a chart detailing a key: low food security and very low food security, as shown below:

Food Insecurity Effects

A look into parental dynamics: lack of food security affects children and parents due to the high stress it can bring. A publishing by The Center for Poverty & Inequality from the University Of California, which details parental frustrations. Parents can feel stressed due to their financial shortcomings and frustrations associated with this. They highlight a study conducted observing kindergarteners in 2011. The article drew their methods based from an Early Childhood Longitude study, but they don’t provide proper citations regarding who published the article. Despite this lack of proper citation on University Of California, there are other articles supporting their findings. The article “Food Insecurity and the risks of depression and anxiety in mothers behavior problems in pre-school aged children” by Robert C Whittaker, Shannon Phillips, and Sean M. Orzol, have significant findings. Polling together 2870 mothers of 3-year-old children in 2001 to 2003 from 18 major U.S cities and were brought into three levels: fully food secure, marginally food secure, and food insecure (Whitaker, R. C., Phillips, S. M., & Orzol, S. M. (2006). Results showed:

” After adjustment for socio-demographic factors plus maternal health, alcohol use, drug use, prenatal smoking, and parental physical domestic violence, the percentage of mothers with either major depressive episodes or generalized anxiety disorder increasing with food insecurity: 16.9%, 21.0%, and 30.3% across the levels”

Whittaker, R.C., Phillips, S.M & Orzol S.M. (2006)

The study also shows that children were affected and put them into three levels: aggressive, anxious/or depressed, or inattention/ hyperactivity and was based on a child behavior checklist.

“Among children, after further adjustment for maternal major depressive episode and generalized anxiety disorder, the percentage with a behavior problem also increased with increasing food insecurity”: 22.7%, 31.1%, and 36.7%

Whittaker, R.C, Phillips, S.M & Orzol S.M. (2006)

A deeper look: the article did a great job surrounding mothers, however, I feel they failed to address children. What age were the children? Was this behavior different from the children they observed, did they ask their parents regarding their child’s usual behavior? What about mental health disorders? ADHD?

Food Insecurity Programs

Fighting Food insecurity can seem as a difficult task, however, their options such as: Summer Service Food Programs and Seamless Summer Food Programs, an alternative offered through district boards. Eligibility is drawn on a basis that 50% or more students qualify for free or reduced meal programs and you’re under the age 18 years. What are the limitations of summer food programs? Age, if you’re a person with an early birthday? Yes, that’s me. Imagining myself as a couple of years back in high school and on a Seamless Summer Program or Summer Service Food Program, fighting food insecurity. Such alternative seems great, until time runs out. A typical school calendar year runs from a fall to summer and runs out, a child with a birthday that runs within the school year towards May to June would be better. What do other states take into consideration? When I was living in Florida, the average academic year was from early August to May, compared to New York’s Late August/ September to late June. Another criticisms I offer on the Seamless Summer Programs is such actions to fight food insecurity doesn’t apply to schools who don’t offer Summer School.

Food Insecurity and sponsors, the good and the bad: nutritional needs and payment methods. Malnutrition is linked to food insecurity, as an article by EIT(European Institue of Innovation & Technology) co-funded by The European Union shows. How? An article published on the National Library of Medicine by Royal College of Physicians, link malnutrition to health issues such as: malabsorbtion, stessed/ poor muscle function hypertension, and anemia, and bad wound healing. Why? Conditions such as these are correlated with lack of proper nutrition, alongside the general notion that healthier foods cost more. Cheap is key, as families with low-incomes easily are suspectable to other household costs: taxes, mortgages, etc. Another article by DOI Health Affairs shows that children who are food insecure face are 2.95 times more at risk for amenia caused by iron deficiency and increased tooth decay. by twice the amount of children who are food secure. The article regarding amenia is in the National Library of Medicine titled: Food Insecurity is associated with iron defiency anemia in U.S adolescents, by: Heather A Eicher Miller, April C Mason. Connie M Weaver, George P McCabe, and Carol J Boushey.

One may ask: why are you critical of an industry you’re working in, my answer: to better understand the issue of fighting food insecurity through observing existing options and improving upon them or drawing new methods from the pros of these offerings today. I provided information-based journalism, as a way to bring light on the issue. Being in a first-world country and having the privilege to afford food, an issue that few people know is a large issue today. Here I bring you eight alternatives currently offered in fighting food insecurity:

Fighting Food Insecurity 8 Ways

Creating accessible and better vendors: the issue of vendors at first seems irrelevant, in reality it’s an inconvenience and affects families facing food insecurity. Say your child walks up to the machine with cash, they carry only one dollar bills or five dollar bills, turns out the machine only takes card. What if they swipe and manual clearing doesn’t work? Yes, this has happened. An issue that happened at my high school in which despite people clearing their cards information and other students unknowingly “stealing” each other’s money. Whether it be intentional or not, it’s still easily exploitable and can lead to lengthy calls with your bank. What if they chose not refund you or the telephone help service is out?

Creating better Summer Seamless Programs: these programs offer reduced plans for schools of at least only fifty-percent of student’s qualify. What if the school is just under that margin at 49.9%, would they still qualify? These programs are run by sponsors, as they earn $1.50/meal. Combine this with the health effects regarding food insecurities, what about healthy sponsors? A program similarly modeled off of SBF (school breakfast options), rewarding schools for nonprofit sponsors. It leaves opportunities for parents and volunteers to get involved towards making homade, healthier options. The cherry on top: SBF supports free and reduced meal programs as well, making it an option for the underprivileged.

Creating better cafeterias: A look into my old high school cafeteria and many options were the same, alongside barely meeting requirements. How does a slice of pizza and fries meet the supposed food groups? Options for ice cream were always available, yet never extra fruit? You get in line to eat through a standard program or don’t eat, simple as that. Aside from a peer whom was on a Federal Program and it appeared there wasn’t anything done to improve the nutritional standards

Creating sustainable food for less: a home garden and competitive pricing of vegetables, let’s take a look at spinach. Say you want to buy a package of spinach. Wegman’s grocery offers packages of Spinach ranging from small to family pack to microwaveable, at prices: $1.99-$4.99, and a pack of baby spinach seeds at Walmart for $1.29; that’s $3.29 to 0.50 in savings.

Creating publicity good publicity charity: advertise your charities often and participate! I hear from numerous family members who know about their areas local soup kitchens and drives, I point out: “I didn’t know that, why don’t they tell people?”. I hear the reply that a couple chose to work anonymously, which drives me the question: why? Why would you want such a good cause to go unoticed? Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there as a reputable charity, find ways to get neighborhoods involved. Programs such as onemorechild wouldn’t be known if it weren’t for them being mentioned through sponsors such as United Way Of Central Florida. Furthered through a company who views and goals alongside with good public will. If you create sponsors, align yourself well and don’t be afraid, use word-of-mouth and press towards you, not against.

Backpack food drives: Onemorechild is a backpack food drive I discovered this resource through an article published by United Way of Central Florida: “8 ways to help people who are food insecure”. Backpack food drives are programs that can provide families weekend groceries and other necessities, as defined by feedingamerica. Onemorechild offers numerous ways to help: donations, gift transfers, scholarships, monthly donations, and more.

Fighting food insecurity: simply put, get involved and be an active participant in your free time! Organize your calendar as and start small if need be. An example: “my schedule’s busy this month, however there are openings within ___ week and ___ week, I’ll start with doing this every other week or once a week, to start. Invite your family and friends as well, it’s a great way to help others and spend time together. Once you find the perfect organization, offer to accept notifications as they can tell you about events fighting food insecurity– don’t miss out!

Local farmers: if you know a neighbor or farmer whose looking to get rid of extra crop, then offer to take it and donate the food. You could use the crop in creative ways for meals, companies such as Zero-Waste-Chef can give you inspiration and provide recipes ready to go that involve using food scrap. Once you’re done cooking, bring it to your next charity event.