In the U.S., food is abundant, varied, and inexpensive. Nonetheless, inadequate policy and funding restrict the provision of ample nutritious food to many in America, limiting the realization of the right to food in a land of plenty.

Availability of Food in the U.S. 

In the U.S., people from all backgrounds experience hunger. It is estimated that, each year, 3 million elderly and over 9 million children are served by America’s Second Harvest, a nation-wide food bank network.⁴  Nearly 40% of households served have at least one adult working and almost 70% of them are living below the federal poverty line.⁵ In total, it is estimated that 35 million Americans are living in food insecure households.⁶  Food insecurity is defined as a lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources.⁷

The most ironic aspect of hunger in America is that many of the hungry come from the farming communities that work to feed the world. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 13.1% of rural households are classified as food insecure, while 8.7% of suburban households are food insecure. Households in metropolitan areas have the highest levels of food insecurity at 15.4%.⁷ Often, Americans are hungry not because of the lack of available food; rather, they do not have the ability to purchase food or have access to food distribution services.

Food insecurity has harmful effects on learning, development, productivity, physical and psychological health, and family life. People who go without enough to eat are sick more often and miss work more frequently. Seniors and children are especially vulnerable. Hungry children have difficulty learning, are more susceptible to illness, miss more school, and suffer more medical and developmental problems than children with adequate nourishment.⁸ For seniors, food insecurity exacerbates disease, increases disability, decreases resistance to infection, and extends hospital stays.⁹

Adequacy of Food in the U.S.

The U.S.’s food supply is among the most varied and abundant in the world.  Food that makes it to the supermarket shelves goes through a strict process to ensure that it is safe, nutritious, and healthy.  Nonetheless, for a growing number of people, especially those of low-income, the food they consume does not have such guarantees. A 2003 report found that 52% of food insecure households could not afford to feed their children balanced meals.¹⁰ Low-income families have access to food from government and non-government sponsored programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program for students in public schools. Over 30 million students participate in NSLP daily. Although these programs have specific dietary guidelines, a package of fruit snacks qualifies as fruit and a Snickers bar meets nutritional requirements because it contains nuts¹¹

An increasing problem with the adequacy of food in America is the use of inferior products in foods. Because the U.S. favors privatization and biotechnology in food production, there is an increase of foods made with more hazardous chemicals, hormones, and in unsanitary conditions.¹² High fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oils are abundant in most food products, adding to the fat and sugar of many commonly eaten foods and exacerbating America’s problems with obesity.¹³ Furthermore, over the past few decades, the cost of vegetables and fresh fruits has increased significantly, while the cost of fats, oils, sugars, soft drinks and meats has decreased.¹⁴ This makes it difficult for people living in poverty to provide nutritious food for themselves and their families.

In addition to the use of inferior products in foods, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come under increased scrutiny from leading independent experts for failing to protect and monitor the safety of the food in the U.S. Ongoing outbreaks of food borne illnesses have shown that regulators do not have the money, equipment, and staff to keep industrial chemicals, salmonella, and E. coli from contaminating the U.S. food supply.¹⁵  According to the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention, “America’s current array of food protections are not adequate to meet the new challenges created by a centralized, industrialized and global food supply. Instead, our fragmented food system is capable of delivering lethal and long-term health problems to large segments of America’s population, particularly its children, elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems.”¹⁶

Accessibility of Food in the U.S.

In an attempt to assist the estimated 35 million Americans living with food insecurity, federal food programs are available for some low income individuals. The most used program is the Food Stamp Program, which has more than 26 million individuals participating every month.¹⁷ However, the average benefit of the Food Stamp program is only equivalent to 99 cents per person per meal.¹⁸ The USDA estimates that only six in ten of those who are eligible under current rules are participating in the program.  In addition, while the  average food stamp benefit is just $3 a day, some households receive the minimum monthly benefit of $10, an amount which has not been changed since 1977.¹⁹ The program also excludes many legal immigrants, ex-drug felons, seniors, and working families struggling to make ends meet.  Furthermore, much of the food provided by these programs is not of the highest quality, as it substitutes cheaper food products for expensive produce.²⁰

Accessibility of food also implies that personal and household food costs for an adequate diet should be at a level such that the satisfaction of other basic needs, like health, housing, and education is not compromised.²¹ For too many families and individuals, however, obtaining food is one of their many concerns. A typical U.S. household spends $40 per person each week on food, meaning many households have difficulty receiving adequate food each day and many are forced to choose between paying for groceries, utilities, rent, child care, or medications.²²

Sustainability of Food in the U.S.

In the U.S., policy plays an important role in securing the right to food for everyone. Sound farm and agricultural laws, which regulate crop subsidies and country-of-origin labels, food stamps and conservation programs, greatly effect the U.S. food system. The legislation that deals with these issues is the Farm Bill. However, in its current form, the Farm Bill does not create a system of sustainable agriculture that protects food health for consumers and animals, healthy conditions for workers and animals, and fair wages for farmers.²³ The Farm Bill has also been criticized for serving multinational corporations instead of family farmers, rural communities, and consumer health because it promotes unfair competition between large corporations and the smaller farms.²⁴

Farms in the U.S. have reduced fruit and vegetable production because they are unable to earn a profit when competing with foreign imports from China and Central America, where labor pays about $4 per day.²⁵ Many farmers and agricultural communities in the U.S. are thus unable to have full control over the type and amount of food they produce and the means of production. Since the 1980s, family farmers who have used more sustainable agriculture techniques in their production have been threatened by big businesses and many have been pushed into poverty.²⁶ Furthermore, the production methods that are favored today do not protect the environment. Agriculture is a major user of fossil fuels, adding significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.²⁷ While the Farm Bill is integral to food policy, it is imperative that the government create a more comprehensive approach to ensuring that food is available, adequate, accessible, and sustainable for everyone in the U.S.