Food Insecurity

Zoie Molina

Mrs. Arnsmeyer 

Introduction to Sociology 70M

April, 9, 2016

        Food insecurity is the social and economic state of unreliable or restricted access to proper food. This problem has become very widespread in the United States,  food insecurity subsists in every county in the U.S. The “Map the Meal Gap” report by Feeding America showed that about 15.8 percent of people were food insecure during some time in 2013. Out the 321.3 million people  in the U.S, 49 million were considered food insecure in 2015. An individual can become food insecure for a variety of intricate reasons. Poverty is the leading factor as to why families lack the profits needed to support themselves and buy food. The bulk of food insecurity is created by poverty along with other socioeconomic problems. Food insecurity is a social problem because it affects millions of people and has an impact on the development of future generations.

        When I was first given the assignment of writing a research paper on food insecurity I immediately begin my research. I went to LINCCWeb, which is an online listing of different books, scientific journals and more, I started to look about articles pertaining to food insecurity and I would make sure each one was peer-reviewed. After narrowing down my search by using the keywords food insecurity and sociology, I was able to find a plethora of resources. I mostly used online articles and articles from books with the exception of a few infographics.

Gundersen, Criag."2013 Map the Meal Gap." Feeding America. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.  

           gap/2013/>.

The head researcher and writer of the report is Craig Gunderson , a professor of Agricultural Strategy, worked with a team of researchers and writers under Feeding America, A network of food banks fighting against hunger. Map the Meal Gap 2015 by  is a report on county and congressional district level food insecurity and county food cost in the U.S in 2015. This report contains the highlights of the findings for child and overall food insecurity. Map the Meal Gap 2015 provides many charts, diagrams, and statistics to illustrate the impact of food insecurity in the United States. The report talks about the function of local food banks and distributors as well as the conflict behind the effects food insecurity has on both people and the environment. This reference is helped me with my research by giving me a background on food insecurity and a realization of how widespread it is and how many people it affects.

Haering, Stephen, MD, MPH and Syed, Shamsuzzoha, MD, MPH, DPH. “Community

 Food Security In United States Cities: A Survey of the Relevant Scientific Literature.” Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Fall 2009. Web. 20 Feb. 2016 “http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/PDF_Files/FS_Literature%20Booklet.pdf .”

“Community Food Security in the United States Cities: A Survey of Relevant Scientific Literature” by Stephen A. Haering, MD, MPH and Shamsuzzoha B. Syed, MD, MPH, DPH is a research report booklet funded by the John Hopkins center for a Livable Future. Haering and Syed provide charts, definitions and statistics to explain the issues of food insecurity in communities in the United States. They stress the fact that food availability is only one aspect of food security and that one of the core dimensions of food insecurity is the cost of foods. They discuss the conflict of how the low prices of unhealthy food can cause food insecure people to become obese. This article helped me start to look at all the different possible causes of food insecurity.

 Andrews, Margaret, Carlson, Steven, et al.“Household Food Security in the United States in

     2010.” USDA, Economic Research Service. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

            “http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR125/err125.pdf .”

“Household Food Security in the United States in 2010” by Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews and Steven Carlson is an economic research report, backed by the United States Department of Agriculture. The report reviews food security rates and how they have increased and decreased throughout the last 10 years. It also provides and abundance of statistics about the amount of children affected by food insecurity, and the causes of food insecurity. It also examines the function of food distribution and how the lack of it causes for whole cities to not have access to nutritious affordable food.

               Mykerezi, Elton, and Bradford Mills. "The Impact Of Food Stamp Program Participation On

                            Household   Food Insecurity." American Journal Of Agricultural Economics 92.5.

                            (2010): 1379-1391.Business Source Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.

“ The Impact of Food Stamp Program Participation on Household Food Insecurity” by Elton Mykerezi and Bradford Mills is a study featured in the American Journal of Agricultural  Economics. The Study Examined the impact of participating in the food stamp program has on a household. The study revealed that the function of food stamp programs are helping to reduce the food insecurity rates in America. It also briefly addressed the social stigma that participants of the food stamps program face. This source helped me to look at food security from a sociological standpoint by telling me how recipients of food stamps are treated in society.

Kregg-Byers, CM, and EA Schlenk. "Implications Of Food Insecurity On Global Health Policy    

         And Nursing Practice." Journal Of Nursing Scholarship 42.3 (2010): 278-285 8p. CINAHL  

          Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2016

“Implications of Food Insecurity on Global Health Policy and Nursing Practice” is an article written by Kregg-Byers CM1 and Schlenk EA. This article looks at the tolls food insecurity takes on both you physically and mentally. I learned from the article that food insecurity affects both individuals and households, it’s mainly unobservable, which makes analysis and data collection very difficult. This is why it is hard to get funding to research food insecurity and it’s many causes and effects. This article helped with my research because I was that the effect of food insecurity aren’t just physical.