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accessHealthNews.net
February 2022
Volume 8 | Issue No. 54
A
s the holiday season fades and the
pandemic continues, the food insecurity
crisis in America carries on. Food insecurity,
which is defined as "the
disruption of food
intake or eating patterns because of lack of
money and other resources," already had
effects that varied widely from demographic to
demographic before the pandemic.
In 2019, 1 in
12 non-Hispanic white individuals lived in a food-
insecure household, compared with 1 in 6 Latino
individuals, 1 in 5 Black, non-Hispanic individuals,
and 1 in 4 Native American individuals. But with
the myriad challenges posed by the pandemic,
these numbers threatened to rise.
Early in the pandemic, the world's supply chain
suffered, significantly impacting the prices and
availability of food. As delays mounted and
meat packing plants closed, prices soared.
In
one month alone, the prices of meat, poultry,
and fish rose by 4.3%, which was partly due to
sharp drops in supply associated with closed
packing plants. Each of these complications
contributed to rising food costs, putting pressure
on those who were already facing difficulties
with providing enough food for themselves and
their families.
Meat packing plants weren't the only large-
scale closures to affect food availability.
As schools closed, many families who had
relied upon breakfast, lunch, or after-school
food programs to provide their children with
enough nutrition were left to pick up the
costs themselves. Families least able to afford
increases in budget strain were those most
heavily affected by such changes and closures.
As food banks faced higher demand from
people who could no longer work or whose
paychecks were no longer sufficient to purchase
enough food, sourcing and maintaining the
manpower necessary to meet this need became
next to impossible. In order to ensure the safety
of volunteers and workers during the COVID-19
pandemic, staff were drastically reduced in
many food banks. At the same time, purchasing
food to stock banks became more difficult
because of delays and rising prices.
Despite overwhelming pressure, the percentage
of food-secure households
did not change
from 2019 to 2020 — but this data is misleading
at a glance. While rates of food security were
maintained through the start of the pandemic,
this was not for lack of demand or ease of
supply. In fact, the Feeding America network
distributed 44% more food in 2020 than it had in
2019, because of the
food bankers, volunteers,
and partner agencies that stood on the front
line to ensure their neighbors had the food they
needed.
Much of Missouri, especially the southeast, already faced high rates
of food insecurity before the pandemic. In 2019, 1 in 7 children in
Missouri faced hunger, and all of the counties with food insecurity rates
approaching or surpassing 20% were in or near southeast Missouri.
