From: Jurriaan Bendien (adsl675281@TISCALI.NL)
Date: Sat Nov 17 2007 - 19:45:15 EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said the number of Americans who went hungry in 2006 was held in check at 35 million people from the prior year, but food advocacy groups said on Wednesday more needs to be done. The U.S. Agriculture Department said a total of 12.65 million households were "food insecure," or 10.9 percent of U.S. homes, up from 12.59 million a year ago. The USDA defines food insecurity - its metric for measuring hunger - as having difficulty acquiring enough food for the household throughout the year. "It looks very stable from this year to last year," said Mark Nord, who co-authored the annual report for USDA's Economic Research Service. Overall, 35.52 million people, including 12.63 million children, went hungry compared with 35.13 million in 2005. The survey was conducted in December 2006 and represented 294 million people, an increase of 2.5 million from 2005. Food advocacy groups said the figures showed the United States was not doing enough to combat hunger, and feared conditions could worsen. "As costs for food, energy, and housing continue to rise and wages stagnate or decline, households are finding themselves increasingly strapped," said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center. "This may mean even worse numbers in 2007." Very low food security was most prevalent in households with children headed by a single woman -- 10.3 percent in 2006, USDA said. Complete story http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1432658720071114?sp=true
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