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Map the Meal Gap Feeding America releases new numbers on food insecurity Each year Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, conducts a Map the Meal Gap (MMG) study, designed to assess food insecurity across the nation, and the number of meals required (the gap in meals) within local jurisdictions. In 2014 the MMG assessed overall food insecurity at 18% in the Houston Food Bank’s18-county southeast Texas service area, slightly lower than last year. That means that there are 7,608 fewer food insecure adults in the HFB service area. However, the same study assessed food insecurity among children in the HFB service area at 24.7%, slightly higher than last year. That means that there are 14,498 more children in our service area at risk of hunger this year. This increase is 32% more than that experienced between 2012 and 2013. The meal gap in our HFB service area grew by 12,105,849 meals, or more than $32 million. This number reflects a 6% reported increase in the weighted cost-per-meal in the HFB service area: The cost per meal rose from $2.52 in 2013 to $2.67 in 2014. This increase in food costs has been made more challenging by the November 2013 funding cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as “Food Stamps”). Prior to the November 2013 cut in SNAP benefits, an average-size SNAP-participant family in the Houston Food Bank service area received average SNAP benefits of $4.27 per person each day. Since that cut, the same family now receives $3.96 per person each day, a 7% decrease. For a family of four, benefits were cut by $36 per month, enough to purchase bread and cereal, several cans of store-brand tuna on sale, cheese, and milk or yogurt, or peanut butter and jelly – to provide and stretch meals through a month. During the same timeframe, food prices have been rising: In February 2014 costs of meats, fish and eggs led the largest increase in U.S. food prices in over 2 years. Oranges, coffee and milk have followed along with sharply increased costs. Feeding America first published the Map the Meal Gap project in early 2011, with the generous support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Nielsen, to learn more about the face of hunger at the local level. In August, 2011, with the support of the ConAgra Foods Foundation, child food insecurity data was added to the project. To learn more about Map the Meal Gap and food insecurity nationwide, click here. |
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