Source: STLtoday.com

The combined value of the various financial bailout efforts to date is approaching $8 trillion. As these rescue initiatives move ahead on a fast track, the government statistics on another group in far more dire need of a bailout have gone virtually unnoticed. The Food and Nutrition Service of the Department of Agriculture reports that for at least the last three years, one in nine Americans has experienced “food insecurity” — that bureaucratic term that describes the condition of those who lack access to enough food on a regular, sustained basis.

In 2007, that meant 13 million households (36.2 million people) went hungry at some time during the year. Of these, 4.7 million households experienced severe food insecurity, often skipping meals or otherwise reducing the amount of food they ate. Children who had to endure severe food shortage numbered 691,000 — an increase of more than 60 percent from 2006. Households at greatest risk for food insecurity typically are headed by a single woman, a Hispanic or African-American, or by those with incomes below the federal poverty line.

In Missouri, nearly 13 percent of households experienced food insecurity from 2005 to 2007, including nearly 5 percent characterized as “very low.” These dismal statistics put Missouri in 10th place among all states for the highest rate of food insecurity overall and in eighth place for very low food insecurity. The situation represents an increase in food insecurity of more than 27 percent since the 1996-1998 survey, when only one in 10 households lacked access to food on a regular basis.

The figures for 2008 are expected to rise even more as unemployment increases and the recession deepens. Other factors have exacerbated the situation. The cost of food is higher than it has been in 17 years, rising 8.7 percent in the first half of 2008, more than 50 percent faster than in 2007. Rising prices are expected to continue into the new year.

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