Surging Food Prices In USA Are Pushing More Americans To Depend On Food Banks

Even as coronavirus rates have continued to drop and the American labor market seems to be nearing full recovery from the pandemic, USA¡¯s food banks are seeing another surge in need.

The reason? Surging food prices amid rising inflation in the country. Many Americans are once again having trouble making ends meet, as per a report in TheWashingtonPost.

Growing Queues Outside Food Banks

AP photo

Also Read: Goldman Sachs Becomes First Major US Bank To Announce Over-the-counter Crypto Trading

Food bank officials have been reporting growing queues at their distribution centers nationwide in the USA.

Data from the Census Household Pulse Survey shows that rates of reported hunger have been increasing since early August 2021, when nearly 8% of respondents said they ¡°sometimes¡± or ¡°often¡± did not have enough to eat. But in early February, 10% said their household sometimes doesn¡¯t have enough to eat. And the percentage rises to 13% for households with children.

In late January and early February 2022, 35% of adults living in households with children said they struggled to cover usual costs, according to census data, as reported byTheWashingtonPost.

Struggling To Have Food In Plate

shutterstock

Also Read: Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Says Bitcoin Will Replace The US Dollar

48-year-old Chelsi Lewis, who is a single mother of three, reportedly said "There are some nights I don¡¯t eat because I only have enough to feed them. I¡¯ll eat whatever is leftover on their plates. I just tell them I¡¯m not hungry.¡±

Kyle Waide, the President of the Atlanta Community Food Bank said ¡°While food distribution to neighbours in need has declined from the peak of the pandemic, the Atlanta Community Food Bank continues to see the need for food assistance considerably higher, as much as 30%, compared to pre-pandemic need", as per byTheWashingtonPost.

Inflation data released in March 2022 indicates that the food index saw the largest monthly increases since April 2020.

At the national level, food banks in the Feeding America network in February 2022 still moved twice as many truckloads of food as they did in February 2020, and transportation costs are up 20%, said its spokeswoman Zuani Villarreal, as per TheWashingtonPost.

And what¡¯s in those trucks is reportedly costing more. A truckload of peanut butter was about $34,000 in Feb 2020 and is now $40,000, canned tuna cost $46,000 and is now $57,000, and a truckload of diced tomatoes was $15,000 and is now $23,000.

Also Read: US Based Nursing Student Wakes Up To See $20 Crypto Investment Turn Into Trillions, But There's A Cruel Twist

For more of such latest financial and economic news, keep reading Worth. Click here.