Land of the Food Insecure: Record Rates of Hunger in US

Published on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 by BBC News
Republished by Common Dreams on November 18, 2010

Almost 15% of US households experienced a food shortage at some point in 2009, a government report has found.

Drew Everhart, a homeless man, sits at the Urban Ministry soup kitchen in Charlotte, North Carolina, November 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

US authorities say that figure is the highest they have seen since they began collecting data in the 1990s, and a slight increase over 2008 levels.

Single mothers are among the hardest hit: About 3.5 million said they were at times unable to put sufficient food on the table.

Hispanics and African Americans also suffer disproportionately.

The food security report is the result of an annual survey conducted by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Households deemed "food insecure" experienced a period of inadequate food supply as a result of their economic situation, but did not necessarily remain without sufficient food for the entire year.

Read the rest of this article here.

Comment: I am finding it hard to wrap my head around this reality.  It is a damn shame that the richest and most developed country in the history of the world has 15% of its total population hungry at one point or the other.

I am hardly surprised, nonetheless, that the hardest hit are single mothers, Latinos, and African Americans. 

Indians are as usual not counted in these types of federal statistics.

Onward!