Need For Food is At Critical Level

Although I am starting to feel a bit like a doomsday blogger, I keep finding and receiving story after story about the spiraling cost of food and the food shortfall at food banks that is accompanying it.

This story came to me from FoodLinks America's newsletter and I am reprinting most of it here because it's so important:

Skyrocketing Food Prices Contribute to Hunger Woes

'The rapidly rising cost of groceries is severely squeezing the budgets of low-income American households. Even for families receiving food stamps and other nutrition assistance, prices are increasing faster than benefits, sending numerous households to emergency food sources such as food banks and food pantries to try and cover the difference.

Officially, according to the federal government, the cost of food at home rose 5.1 percent between February 2007 and February 2008. But double-digit increases on many staple items generated consumer concern. During the same time period, bread prices rose by 12 percent, rice and pasta by 13 percent, cheese by 15 percent, milk by 17 percent, and eggs by 25 percent.

For low-income people, there is little relief in sight. “Increasing food costs may prove to be a greater problem for families than soaring oil prices,” FRAC observed. “The average household spends three times as much for food as for gasoline, with food accounting for 13 percent of household spending compared to four percent for gas.” To view the FRAC paper, go to: http://www.frac.org/pdf/factsheet_foodcosts_apr08.pdf."