Rising food costs mean shortfalls for families in need

Feeding America’s latest Map the Meal Gap report indicates that the number of people struggling with hunger in Eastern Massachusetts has shown no significant improvement in the last year. In addition, rising food costs are making it even harder for those who are food insecure to feed themselves and their families.

You can see an interactive map showing food insecurity data by county and congressional district here: map.feedingamerica.org.

What this means for families

“One in 10 Massachusetts residents not only don’t know where their next meal is coming from, but can’t even afford to buy as much food as they could last year,” said Catherine D’Amato, president of The Greater Boston Food Bank.

The weekly food budget shortfall for a food-insecure person rose 4% to nearly $20 per person, which is 15 percent higher than the national average.

“The situation has gotten worse, not better for them in the commonwealth,” said D’Amato. “A family of four is short about $80 a week. That’s an insurmountable amount for many hard-working, low-income people scrambling to also meet the high cost of housing, health care, utilities, transportation and other basic needs in our state.”