Nutrition Insecurity: The New Frontier
Throughout history, a common measurement of human progress is our capacity to reduce human suffering, wherever it exists. Over the past century, our country has become a victim of our own success – proliferating the ability to provide abundant cheap calories to our population, thus exchanging depression-era starvation with diet-related health conditions like obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. To make matters worse, this crisis is plaguing our youth—with one in six children suffering from obesity.
Undoubtedly, the pandemic is most severely impacting Americans who are suffering from these exact conditions. Our country cannot continue to neglect the hunger and nutritional needs of our citizens. It’s time to recalibrate our definition of progress and turn our focus to feeding the population nutritious calories rather than cheap calories. Today’s new frontier is nutrition insecurity, and fresh fruits and vegetables will play a critical role in achieving solutions.
Max Teplitski of the Produce Marketing Association stated this very succinctly in a recent article with The Packer, saying, “There was a time when addressing hunger was about getting food – any food – to those in need. That time has passed. The problem, and our experience and knowledge, have evolved and our oath to grow a healthier world requires us to ensure access to healthy, nutritious food to those who need it most.”
In September, I had the opportunity to discuss this issue with Congressman McGovern of Massachusetts, a well-known anti-hunger advocate on Capitol Hill. During our meeting, he shared his vision for a White House conference that would address the intersecting issues of food, hunger, nutrition, and health. In October, he joined Congresswoman Walorski and Senators Booker and Braun to introduce a bill that would ensure the event takes place.
The bill would set the following key goals for the conference: to identify solutions for ending hunger in the United States by 2030, to reduce by 1⁄2 the level of nutrition insecurity by 2025, and to reduce by 1⁄2 the level of diet-related 10 illnesses by 2030. This conference would be only the second such forum to take place. The last time these issues were discussed was in 1969, where SNAP, WIC, and the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs were created or expanded.
Tackling nutrition insecurity also has the potential to save taxpayer dollars. The federal government is spending $160 billion on diabetes treatments, an amount that is “significantly greater” than the entire budget of the Department of Agriculture, according to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Diabetes can be linked directly to both food insecurity and nutrition insecurity, he explained, making it incumbent upon the USDA to “modernize our nutrition security and food security systems.”
For America’s own sake and the sake of its society, our country must create equitable access to fresh fruits and vegetables for all its citizens. It is incumbent upon those in this industry to advocate for this conference to happen, to assist with policy recommendations, and to execute on whatever is asked of us. Suffering in the United States, whether because of a lack of resources or a lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is unacceptable, and it needs to become a relic of bygone days.
