Posted on July 13, 2022 at 4:05 pm CDT
Food insecurity is a chronic problem in the US, but so is food waste, such as throwing away food from supermarkets or restaurants that could be used to fight hunger.
The Midwest Food Bank, based in Normal, attended an event Tuesday to support legislation that would make it easier and safer for businesses to donate unused food. The Food Donation Improvement Act was recently introduced in the US House of Representatives and Senate with broad bipartisan support.
Jada Hoerr, director of resources for the Midwest Food Bank, traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the discussion. She said rising inflation is one of the biggest contributing factors to food insecurity.
“People are making a very real decision between paying for fuel or transportation to get to work or having access to nutritious food,” Hoerr said.
She said that 35% of food is wasted in the United States. Part of the problem, she explained, is confusion over how to safely and effectively donate unused food. The Food Donation Improvement Act would strengthen existing protections around food donation that protect companies from liability. The act would also offer more clarity on what foods are safe to donate.
Hoerr is optimistic that the bill, which has rare bipartisan support, can help bring relief to the 12% of the population struggling with food insecurity, describing the Food Donation Improvement Act as “common sense”.
“So the sooner we can move this legislation forward, the sooner we can address many of the other challenges facing poverty and food insecurity,” she said.
What are some examples of food losses?
Reasons for this food loss can include poor harvests, animal deaths, spillage, transportation problems, and insufficient storage. For example, access to reliable and consistent refrigeration is an important issue for many developing countries and a major contributor to food loss.
What is food waste and loss? Food loss occurs most often in the production, post-harvest and processing stages of the food chain. While food waste occurs at the end of the food chain. Read also : The Food Bank is undermining local expansion due to local, national ARP. Food waste is food that was originally produced for human consumption but was later discarded or not consumed by humans.
What causes food losses?
Food is lost or wasted for a variety of reasons: bad weather, processing problems, overproduction, and unstable markets cause food to be lost long before it reaches the supermarket, while overbuying, poor planning, and confusion over labels and safety all contribute to food shortages. food waste in stores and homes.
What of food gets wasted?
In the United States, food waste is estimated to be between 30% and 40% of the food supply. This may interest you : Indigenous food cafes that change the local cuisine.
What are the 3 causes of food insecurity?
How can we end food insecurity? Part of what makes food insecurity so difficult to address is that the underlying causes – poverty, unemployment/underemployment, and inconsistent access to enough healthy food – are often deeply interconnected. See the article : Can food taxes and subsidies help improve health outcomes? Today.
What are the 3 components of food security? The three components of food security – availability (having sufficient amounts of appropriate food available), access (having adequate income or other resources to access food) and utilization/consumption (having adequate food intake and the ability to absorb and use nutrients in the body) – provide the basis for…
What are the 4 major causes of world hunger and food insecurity?
But with the majority of hungry people living in developing countries, the main cause of hunger in the world is poverty.
- Poverty. Poverty is the main cause of global hunger. …
- Climate. …
- Conflict and Instability. …
- Economic downturn. …
- Sustainable Agriculture. …
- Climate Resilience. …
- Focus on Women. …
- Shop and eat local.
What are the main causes of food insecurity?
Food insecurity can be long-term or temporary. It can be influenced by many factors, including income, employment, race/ethnicity, and disability. The risk of food insecurity increases when money to buy food is limited or not available.
What does food insecurity mean?
Food insecurity – the condition assessed in food security research and represented in USDA food security reports – is a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. Hunger is a physiological condition at an individual level that can result from food insecurity.
What is food insecurity and what causes it? Food insecurity is defined as the interruption of food intake or eating patterns due to lack of money and other resources. In 2014, 17.4 million American households were food insecure at some point in the year. Food insecurity does not necessarily cause hunger, but hungeriii is a possible result of food insecurity.
