USDA cancels survey tracking how many Americans struggle to get enough food

"The Household Food Security Report provides yearly data on the lack of access to adequate nutrition for low-income Americans, and helps shape policy on how to combat food insecurity and hunger. The USDA's announcement comes after Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law this summer, which expands the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. This, in effect, will leave an estimated 2.4 million Americans without food aid."

""The national food insecurity survey is a critical, reliable data source that shows how many families in America struggle to put food on the table," Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) told NPR. FRAC is an anti-hunger organization that advocates for food security in the U.S. FitzSimons said that without the annual report, advocates and policymakers won't have a clear lens on the scale of hunger in America, and how to prevent it."

"According to the USDA, 47.4 million people lived in food insecure households in 2023. This means that at certain times, 'these households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all their members.' Among those, nearly 14 million were children. In the announcement, the Agriculture Department stated, 'trends in the prevalence of food insecurity have remained virtually unchanged.' Experts are saying that's not true."

The United States Department of Agriculture will end the annual Household Food Security Report, calling the survey redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous. The report provides yearly data on lack of access to adequate nutrition for low-income Americans and helps shape policy responses to food insecurity and hunger. The change follows the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which expands SNAP work requirements and is expected to leave an estimated 2.4 million people without food aid. The USDA reported 47.4 million people in food insecure households in 2023, including nearly 14 million children. Anti-hunger groups and policy analysts warn that eliminating the report will remove critical data needed to measure trends and assess policy impacts, and they dispute the USDA claim that prevalence has remained virtually unchanged.

Read at www.npr.org