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Food Insecurity Continues to Plague the Delaware Valley

Posted by George Matysik on September 9th, 2011

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On Wednesday, the USDA released its Household Food Security in the United States in 2010 Report, which shows that food insecurity rates have remained at record highs for the last three years.  According to this report, “The percentage of U.S. households that were food insecure remained essentially unchanged from 2009 to 2010, while the percentage with food insecurity in the severe range described as very low food security declined”. This report is based on an annual survey done by the U.S. Census bureau and consists of 18 questions on the accessibility and affordable of consistent and healthy meals.

In line with national food insecurity trends, the proportion of Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents who are food insecure and very food insecure has remained at the highest levels since first recorded in 1995.

From 2008 to 2010, an average of 12.5 percent of Pennsylvania residents were food insecure indicating a reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet.  Additionally, five percent were very food insecure, showing multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.  New Jersey had similar difficulties, with an average of 12.1 percent of the population reporting food insecurity from 2008 to 2010, while 4.2 percent of the population as classified as very food insecure during this period.

Philabundance has continued to respond to this growing epidemic, by implementing new initiatives and programs.  To find out more about Philabundance, and how you can join the fight against hunger, please visit www.philabundance.org.

This blog post was co-written by sGeorge Matysik, Deputy Director of Policy & Planning at Philabundance and Shannon Holm, Americorp Vista for Philabundance’s Government & External Relations department.

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George Matysik Our Deputy Director of Policy and Planning works to develop new initiatives, partnerships, and policy positions. George is a lifelong Philadelphian who enjoys watching cooking shows while eating rice-a-roni, and commenting anonymously on the blog posts of his colleagues. He serves on boards and committees for the Pennsylvania Resources Council, Mercy Vocational High School, and the Women’s Community Revitalization Project, leading us to believe he’s a tad more compassionate than he lets on.
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  • http://www.facebook.com/ Terry

    It’s about time somoene wrote about this.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003406523811 Kuroi

      Thinking about the current food criiss in Somalia, and other crises around the world, while aid organizations are saying how they’re having trouble helping them because of rising food prices, it makes you wonder why these prices are rising in the first place, and ultimately, WHY food needs to be paid for in the 21st century?Think about it, if nobody paid for their food, there would be no hungry people left in the world. It would also mean that working people can have much lower salaries without it affecting their ability to survive because food is free! But what about the farmers and those that provide food, how can they survive? Well they have free food too! They will only get paid to work, but not for the food itself.For example if a farmer spends 10,000 euros to produce food that he sells for 15,000, this means his work is worth 5000 euros. Out of that he will spend 1000 euros on his own food, that means the actual profit he enjoys is 4000 euros/season.By working, he is able to feed 1000 people. So if those 1000 people pay him 4 euros each per season, they would all be fed for 4 euros per season.So why can’t people around the world just pay a special food tax that goes directly into compensating food producers for their work, and all parties to have free food and more importantly for needy people around the world to be able to survive.This would automatically decrease the global cost of living, salaries would be less but at least nobody would have to worry about survival.What flaws are there in this idea and ultimately, why can’t food be free?