Can we bank on food banks?

Every once in a while you'll find yourself at the grocery store and there are trucks outside waiting for your donations for the hungry. Everyone's first thought is to donate some ramen or canned food. They are relatively cheap and stay fresh for longer right? Not exactly. Though you are lowering the rates of those families going hungry, unknowingly you are widening the gap between those well nourished and those who are food insecure.

So with an influx of people donating their unwanted cans and processed noodles, where does that leave people who are actually receiving the donations? First off, these food banks are unable to say no to donations that will provide no nourishment. Sodas and candy are frequently donated food items because of their shelf life. But if someone is going hungry, they would much rather want to grab something substantial that represents a meal rather than snacks. in "Overburdened Food Banks Can't Say No to Junk Food", Farmer tells why junk food can actually be extra detrimental to certain families. A woman goes into the food bank frequently to feed a family that has diabetes and heart disease. Junk foods will not help these people! They will actually hurt them faster than someone healthy eating these foods. These families are forced to take the junk food because they are told that if they don't accept all offers, it will make them seem ungrateful and volunteers are less likely to help in the future.

Once we are informed why don't we just donate fresh fruits and vegetables to those in need? The first factor is cost. Fresh foods cost more and are more likely to go bad before they are put to good use. The donators are aware of this and would rather their money be spent well instead of wasting money on something that will be thrown out due to mold. In addition food banks don't ask for fresh produce because they expire quickly and are not able to be distributed to families in a reasonable amount of time. Items such as eggs, are plentiful in vitamins and minerals but are likely to break so the food banks don't even want to deal with this problem. Same with milk, it goes bad too quickly without refrigeration.

This topic becomes tricky because not only does it take end on the change of the donator but the food bank system needs to become more efficient to allow way for the more nutritious -perishable foods. My initial thought is to have a fridge section at food bank warehouses in order to store items such as milk, eggs and produce. Of course this would raise prices but the amount of "real" food given to families would be improved. Another option requires cooperation from grocery stores. They could have special deals for donations. For example, buy one gallon of milk, get the other 1/2 price for donation, or even free.  Having volunteers picking fruits in the fields rather than asking for donations at the grocery store would save time in the ripening process meaning fresh produce could be distributed more efficiently. Any ideas to maximize the amount of nutritious/perishable food that can be stored in these banks?


Reference:

Farmer, Blake. Overburdened food banks can't say no to junk. Jan 13, 2011. NPR. 23 April 2014. Retrieved from <http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132864584/high-demand-nutritional-dilemma-vex-food-banks>

FoodBank1.jpg Retrieved from <http://krapuul.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/foodbank1.jpg>

Lane, Melissa. Addressing the nutritional quality of food donations. March 1, 2007. Food and Nutrition. 23 April 2014. Retrieved from <http://www.foodandnutrition.org/Online-Exclusives/2007/Addressing-the-Nutritional-Quality-of-Food-Donations/>

Free food...kinda

For those without the means, there are programs in place to eliminate a national food insecurity. However, these programs are strictly monitored to help people in need that did not create their economic struggle. Thankfully the government is not fond of giving people money that don't strive to work to escape food insecurity because it would raise tax prices for everyone. There are primarily three programs that aid in eliminating food insecurity:

• SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) - Those that fulfill the requirements are given an EBT card to use like a credit card. The card is loaded with a certain dollar amount every month that is only able to be spent of food items. The benefits are primarily for larger families with low income and a high amount of school aged children. 
• WIC (Women, Infants and Children) - Pregnant women and women with children under five are able to receive assistance if needed. Some of the benefits include, receiving information on nutritious diets as well as provide foods that are abundant in vitamins A, D and C, which are vital to infant health. This program also allows mothers access to free doctor visits to make sure their child is healthy. 
• School Lunch Programs - In public schools, parents that make under a certain wage have the option of receiving free or reduced lunch. This makes sure that these kids at least have one nutritious meal a day, in the unfortunate case that they do not have access to healthy food at home

While I think that all of these are viable options to reduce food insecurity on a national scale, there are many "hoops" families have to go through in order to receive benefits. Sometimes the application and acceptance process takes a while, leaving these families hungry for longer. Although the application process to receive assistance is tedious, it is needed so people that are not working to dissolve food insecurity (and are just being lazy) do not take away the benefits from a family in need. 

Governmental funds are limited so we can't feed all of the crooks for free! An alternative would be to have churches provide free meals once a day for people in need. Of course, these crooks could show up at the churches too and eat some of the free food. Perhaps another idea is to have a pre-screening process on the families in need. Their family income could be checked for the past two years and could be compared to the amount of people in the household. Then, the people that pass the pre-screening could receive a small sum of money to feed themselves while their application for SNAP or WIC goes through. 

I think the free and reduced school lunch program is headed in the right direction. But what about all of the kids' other meals. There has to be a way to make sure school aged children get nutritious meals during weekday dinner and on the weekends. A possible solution would be to have "take home" meals for the children on free and reduced lunch. When these students go through the lunch line they would be able to pick up a packed meal to bring home. 

There has to be another option to provide food for those in need, in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Any ideas?

Reference:

Krishna, Meghna. (2014, January 29). What can we do to eliminate food insecurity. (20 April 2014). Retrieved from <http://www.neahin.org/blog/what-can-we-do-to-eliminate.html>

What are YOU eating?

Hello blog readers! It seems as if you are here to learn about how food insecurity effects everyone. THAT MEANS YOU! Food insecure is a term that refers to a household that does not have the financial means to provide nutrient dense food to their diet. However, this does not mean those in financially secure households are not at risk and are not effected. Beyond the obvious ways that food insecurity can be detrimental to those who do not have access to foods, tax payers are the ones who provide the government expenditure to help those in need. There are systems in place to close the hunger gap. 

Genetically modified foods is when the DNA in foods is altered using genetic engineering. These foods are easy to grow in excess and are used to close the hunger gap. When these foods are plentiful, it is easier to drop prices in crops. However there is some controversy whether these foods are more harmful than they are helpful tough there is not much solid evidence. 

The obvious reason as to why GM foods would be beneficial is that it would provide more people with foods, while taking them out of hunger. Their overall energy would be higher so they would be more capable of giving back to society and maintain a job. It would increase the bounty of food for everyone and drive down prices. Food quality would increase because the modification would allow for preservatives to increase shelf life. This would, in turn, increase food safety and stop people from getting sick from rotten foods. 

On the side of opposition, genetically modified foods introduce new traits in crops. Not all of which have been studied. Many of these foods have not been tested on whether increased exposure leads to long term health effects. Also when the genetic makeup of a crop is altered, some of the nutrient value can be lost. Many reasons that lead to food insecurity are due to a lack of nutrients, but some people are food insecure due to a deficiency in calorie intake. Crops such as vegetables which are high in nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, do not have as many calories as a processed food such as breads. These crops are more expensive and not as effect in providing energy. Genetically modifying foods would make it so that the fresh foods AND processed foods (which are high in calories) do not provide the vital nutrients to maintain a healthy body. GM foods add more fresh crops for everyone at a low price, but are low in nutrients. This means that people who are already properly nourished might go for a "cheaper option" and buy the GM foods. This would create more widespread food insecurity rather than eradicating the problem. Simply providing more foods will not take people out of food insecurity because by definition it means that a household has access to nutrient-dense foods. 

There are numerically more reasons to not allow farmers to genetically modify foods, however the price and sheer raise in calorie count of those in need may be enough of a reason to endorse GM foods. Feel free to leave what you think about whether introducing genetically modified foods to combat food insecurity is a viable option. 

References:

Food insecurity to food security.JPEG <http://thehungergap.org/about/>

Qaim, M., & Kouser, S. (2013). Genetically modified crops and food security.PloS one, 8(6), e64879. <http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0064879>