COLUMBIA — Food insecurity in Missouri is growing, according to a new report from the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security at the University of Missouri.
According to the report, an estimated 779,000 people are food insecure in Missouri, with approximately 356,000 people experiencing very low food security or hunger.
Between 2021 and 2023, which is where most of the data is pulled from, an average of 12.7% of Missouri households experienced food insecurity — an increase of 10% compared to 2018 to 2020. Meanwhile, 5.8% of households experienced very low food security — an increase of 14% compared to 2018 to 2020.
Though the data is from two years ago, tests at food pantries have shown those numbers aren't slowing down.
"The price has gone up, and so people just aren't able to give quite as much as they had before," said Laura McCray, SERVE, Inc. client services manager. "And what we're getting from the food bank is probably not quite as much as what we were getting a few years ago. So that's where we've run into the issue is, yes, our number of clients hasn't decreased, but just the food intake has, as far as what we can provide."
While Callaway County, where SERVE is located, fared well in the report with a lower food insecurity rate than the state average, that doesn't mean the issue isn't still prevalent.
"We average about 700 households per month, which it varies, but the meals provided in the last year, that was about 408,000 meals altogether for the last year ... but our donations, unfortunately, have gone down," McCray said.
Proposed new work requirements for people on Medicaid could affect people across the country who are already working.
In addition to the cost of groceries rising, McCray said potential federal cuts to programs like SNAP could make the numbers worse.
"I have had a few folks come through that have said their benefits have been cut, the food stamp benefits had," McCray said. "I wasn't able to get into an in-depth reason. I mean, that happens for lots of different reasons for lots of different folks. But I am very concerned with what I've been reading, that there is going to be some pretty massive cuts coming in the next year or two. So I'm sure that we will have an increase in people needing our services."
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