Many Black Households Go Hungry By Frederick H. Lowe

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - More than 25 percent of surveyed African-American-headed households suffered from food insecurity last year, meaning they worried that the food would run out before they got more money or could not eat all day because they did not have enough money to buy food, according to a report issued Wednesday by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The study, titled “Household Food Security in the United States in 2014,” reported that 26.1 percent of black households suffered from either recurrent but not chronic food insecurity. Some 22.1 percent of Hispanic-headed households were food-insecure.

The USDA reported that 86.0% of households were food-secure throughout the year, meaning they had access to food at all times for an active healthy lifestyle for all family members.

But 14 percent or 17.4 million households were food-insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.6% with very low food security, meaning their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household either lacked money or other resources for food. In 2014, they typical food insecure household spent 26 percent more on food than the typical food-secure household of the same size and same composition.

Households that were food insecure reported the following:

1. 98 percent reported having worried that their food would run out before they got money to buy more;
2. 97 percent reported that the food they bought just did not last and they did not have money to get more;
3. 69 percent reported that they had been hungry but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.

These were some but not all the complaints shared.