The post-pandemic easing of federal funds to support nutrition programs should be reversed, one nutrition advocacy group says.

Luis Guardia, president of the Food Research & Action Center, said the group is “deeply troubled” that a recent USDA Economic Research Service report reveals hunger in America soared in 2022 after falling the previous year due to COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts. 

“The data underscore how the unwinding of critical pandemic interventions and rising costs have taken a toll on families, particularly households with children and households of color, and also mirror the significant rise in poverty in 2022, the root cause of hunger,” Guardia said in a news release.

The report found that 44.2 million people lived in households that struggled with hunger in 2022, an increase of 10.3 million compared with last year’s report on food insecurity rates, the release said.

Guardia said in the release that key findings from the ERS report were:

• 1 in 8 households in America struggled with hunger in 2022.
• 13.4 million children lived in households that experienced food insecurity, up 44.6% from 2021.
• 33.1% of single-parent households headed by women experienced food insecurity.
• Rates of food insecurity were higher for Black (22.4%) and Latinx (20.8%) households, both double the rate of white non-Latinx households.
• Households in the Southern region continued to experience higher rates of food insecurity than any other U.S. region, with 14.5% of households experiencing food insecurity in 2022.
• A higher number of households in rural areas (14.7%) experienced food insecurity compared to urban areas (12.5%).
• 32% of households with reported incomes below 185% of the poverty threshold experienced food insecurity in 2022.

“There is no excuse for anyone in this country to go hungry when solutions exist,” Guardia said.

More than 6.7 million women, young children, and infants rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to access healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding counseling and support, and health care and social service referrals, the release said.

“Yet, without congressional action, this proven program hangs in the balance,” Guardia said. “FRAC urges Congress to include additional funding in any short- and long-term fiscal year 2024 spending bills so that eligible families have uninterrupted access to WIC’s significant nutrition and health benefits.” 

Guardia also said in the release that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps tens of millions of families afford to put food on the table.

“Despite its many strengths, SNAP benefits are far from adequate, with the average benefit being just $6 per person per day,” Guardia said. “Congress must do everything in its power to protect and strengthen SNAP benefits and equitable access.”

He said the expanded Child Tax Credit expired at the start of 2022 after lifting nearly 3 million children out of poverty in 2021. Reinstating the expanded Child Tax Credit would not only improve families’ ability to put food on the table, but it also would benefit the economy and spur job growth, Guardia said.

FRAC also is urging Congress to make permanent free healthy meals for all children nationwide “to rid our classrooms of hunger and the stigma associated with school meals, and fuel health and learning,” Guardia said.

If we want to reverse the uptick in hunger rates, Congress must act now to make substantial investments in anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs,” he said in the release. “Hungry people can’t wait.”