Grocery prices soared by 11.8% in 2022 – the swiftest pace since the early 1980s. Rapid inflation is, naturally, leading to concerns that it’s getting harder for Americans to put food on the table.
Feeding America, a nonprofit that supports and connects roughly 60,000 food banks and pantries nationwide, has said that at least half of its members are seeing more demand for their services. And many reports are surfacing about struggling parents waiting in long lines for free food.
Purdue University created a new data dashboard that tracks U.S. food insecurity – the technical term for having trouble getting enough nutritious food – based on publicly available information.
The data they’re collecting , as well as the information compiled from other sources, including the Census Bureau, isn’t yet reflecting a sharp uptick in households without enough to eat. Purdue said U.S. food insecurity has remained at troubling but yet relatively flat levels.
Based on the data they’ve included in the dashboard, Purdue estimate that over the course of 2022 somewhere between 11% and 15% of those living in the U.S. struggled with securing their next meal.
