TEFAP Alliance Blog

Foodlinks America - April 26, 2006

In this issue:

· Budget Talks Hit Wall of Fiscal Reality
· Fresh Produce for a Million Seniors
· Pressure Mounting for a Food Stamp Name Change
· Food Banks Challenged to Provide Good Nutrition
· Obesity Round-Up
· School Food News and Notes
· Reports from the Field
· One New Bonus Item on Tap
· Small Bites

Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, Texas 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@281.com.

There is no copyright on Foodlinks America, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. To receive the newsletter directly, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@281.com.

Budget Talks Hit Wall of Fiscal Reality

On April 6, 2006, Republican leaders pulled a fiscal year 2007 budget resolution off the floor of the House of Representatives since they did not have the votes to pass it. The next day, Congress left town for a two-week spring break. Since returning on April 24, there have been no signs of a break in the budget impasse.

With the appropriations process for next year moving ahead without a budget blueprint, the importance of the budget resolution may diminish over the coming months. Republicans, however, insist they will work things out. “We’re going to stay at it,” said Representative John Boehner (R-OH), the House majority leader. Democrats, on the other hand, scoffed at the Republican disarray. “They are out of ideas; they are out of energy; and they are out of time,” remarked Representative Rahm Emanual (D-IL), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

One of the inherent problems in reaching agreement in the budget process is that about 80 percent of the $2.7 trillion annual federal budget is effectively off limits when spending cuts are being considered. Military spending and so-called entitlement programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, keep increasing faster than inflation and the overall economy. Included among entitlement programs are food stamps and school meals.

So, as tax cuts continue to lower government revenues, almost all of the annual battles over budget deficits are focused on the approximately one-fifth of federal spending that goes to domestic “discretionary” programs. In the discretionary category are education, health, science, and energy programs, as well as nutrition efforts such as WIC and the Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP).

Budget writers are also contending with the fiscal demands of following up on homeland security after September 11, supporting the war in Iraq, and rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricanes Kartrina and Rita. “It is never easy to write a budget,” said House Budget Committee chair Jim Nussle (R-IA), “and it is particularly challenging to do when those kind of things hit you, not just one at a time, but at one time.”

Fresh Produce for a Million Seniors

A million elderly Americans will be getting free produce this summer, thanks to the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP). Under the program, eligible seniors are given vouchers they can redeem for fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and in community supported agriculture (CSA) programs.

The SFMNP reached an estimated one million seniors in 2005, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the program is expected to benefit about the same number again this season. The SFMNP, which currently operates in 46 jurisdictions (38 states, six Indian Tribal Organizations, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) and is funded at $15 million annually, last year increased sales for 14,000 farmers selling at 2,500 farmers’ markets, 2,000 farmstands, and 215 CSAs.

Entitlement funding for the SFMNP was earmarked under the 2002 Farm Bill, exempting the program from annual appropriations battles, but locking funding in place for the five-year life of the legislation. The limitation on funds has left current state and Tribal grantees unable to grow their programs and at least eight states that have expressed interest in initiating an SFMNP are unable to access federal funds.

“I hate it because we turn so many people away,” said Cindy Willard, director of the SFMNP for the Osage Tribal Council in Pawhuska, OK, which only gets enough money to serve 1,100 seniors. “We’re already getting lots of calls from elders and within two weeks after the program starts we’ll be turning people away,” she said, as word of the program spreads rapidly. Three principal means of communication among the Tribe are “telephone, telegram, and tell an elder,” Willard explained.

At recent USDA-sponsored Farm Bill forums around the country, SFMNP supporters called for an overall increase in program funding, administrative support over and above the grants for food, and the addition of other items to the program, such as honey, nuts, and eggs.

Revisions to the SFMNP may occur in the near future not only as a result of legislation – if Congress takes up reauthorization of the Farm Bill this year – but also from regulations. Proposed rules for the SFMNP issued by USDA in May 2005 are expected to be finalized this summer. Among the changes proposed is a $50 annual limit on benefits per recipient, a provision that would have a significant effect on CSAs in the program.

The SFMNP has been a tremendous benefit for both seniors and farmers’ markets in Alabama, where the program, run by the state farmers’ market authority, operates in all 67 counties and will serve approximately 62,000 elders this year. “Almost all the seniors I talk to say they would not be shopping at the farmers’ market if it were not for the extra support they get for fruits and vegetables,” said administrator Don Wambles. “It is one of the most enjoyable and most beneficial government programs ever created,” added Ms. Willard.

Pressure Mounting for a Food Stamp Name Change

The Food Stamp Program (FSP) is a misnomer. Actual stamps, provided to individuals on welfare, were only used during a four-year period from the beginning of the initial FSP in 1939 until the program ended in 1943. Reinstated in 1961 and made permanent in 1964, the FSP used paper coupons for 40 years until electronic debit cards took over in 2004.

Regardless of the method by which benefits were provided, the FSP has always carried a stigma for its participants. “The argument originally for food stamps was that people using them should be identified and they should feel bad about it,” commented Mark Rank, a social welfare professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “That’s been consistent for a very long time.”

“Many stakeholders involved with the FSP believe that the Program’s name is outdated and reflects neither the current benefit delivery technology nor the mission of the nation’s primary and largest nutrition assistance program,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the federal agency that administers the FSP, stated in a June 22, 2004 notice requesting public comment on whether the program should be renamed.

Recent USDA forums on the 2007 Farm Bill, the legislation that authorizes the FSP, generated hundreds of suggestions for a new name, such as the “Food Security Program” or the “Nutrition Support Program.” A renaming contest run by the state FSP agency in Maryland a couple of years ago generated such entries as “Food for All,” “Meals for Millions,” and “No Stomach Left Behind.”

USDA could recommend an administrative action to change the program moniker, but will most likely wait to see if Congress addresses the issue in the upcoming reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Some states, however, are not waiting for the federal government to take action. Four states have already put a new name in place. In Michigan, the FSP is now the Food Assistance Program. In Minnesota, it’s the Food Support Program. In Wisconsin, it’s now known as the FoodShare Program. And Washington calls it the Basic Food Program.

Though it may take action by Congress to make any official change, most states do not even use the words “food stamps” on their FSP debit cards. “There are some states that don’t even talk about food stamps anymore,” noted Margaret Andrews, an economist in USDA’s Economic Research Service. “Not in the eligibility interview, not on the application.”

“This is really interesting about trying to go the other way” and reduce the stigma, remarked Washington University professor Rank. “We’re actually trying to make [the FSP] more accessible than it has been. That’s an interesting idea because it really goes against the grain.”

Food Banks Challenged to Provide Good Nutrition

Food banks across the nation, struggling to feed increasing numbers of people with flat or decreasing donations of food, are also contending with issues about the nutritional quality of the food distributed. An April 16, 2006 article in The Washington Times highlighted the dilemma for food banks around the nation’s capital.

“Local food banks and soup kitchens say donations of candy bars, cookies, and other junk foods are becoming more commonplace – a trend they think reflects the country’s poor eating habits.”

“Despite an increase of donated nutritious foods on a national scale in recent years, more than 630,000 people in the [Washington, D.C.] region are facing dwindling options, as food banks field more sugary contributions and less canned goods and produce.”

“It’s not as simple or clear cut as healthy versus unhealthy,” said Bill Ewing, the executive director for the Maryland Food Bank. “However, [donated food] reflects what one finds in a grocery store. Attempting to change people’s nutrition and eating habits is like pushing water uphill.”

Brian Smith, the chief operating officer of the Capital Area Food Bank, said the quality of the food is “often at the whim of the donor community. Maybe half of our donations are snacks or less-nutritional foods – cookies, crackers, pudding,” he said.

“I would sell my soul to bring in a [donated] truckload of tuna fish or peanut butter, but it’s not [realistic],” Mr. Ewing said. “Our mission is to provide enough food for every hungry Marylander, and we are so far away from that. The question isn’t if the bank receives enough healthy food, it’s if the bank receives enough food donations of any kind.”

Obesity Round-Up

• Budget menu items blamed for obesity: The Dollar Menu at McDonald’s may be contributing to America’s obesity epidemic, according to an article on the front page of the April 19, 2006 The New York Times. The low-cost cheeseburgers, French fries, fried chicken sandwiches, and hot fudge sundaes are high in calories, fat, and sodium. And advertising for the Dollar Menu is aimed at African Americans and Hispanics, two population groups that already have high rates of obesity.

“The problem here is that you’re dealing with a segment where you have these huge obesity issues and you’re making eating Big Macs and double cheeseburgers look like it’s fun and exciting,” said Jerome Williams, a University of Texas at Austin advertising professor who helped write a federal report on junk food marketing to children last year. “Fast food consumption has been shown to increase caloric intake, promote weight gain, and elevate risk for diabetes,” added Dr. David Ludwig, head of an obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston. “Because African Americans and Hispanics are inherently at higher risk for obesity and diabetes, fast food will only fuel the problem,” noted Ludwig.

So, what is the proper balance between economical and healthful eating? “The Dollar Menu appeals to lower-income, ethnic consumers,” explained Steve Levigne, a McDonald’s vice president for business research. “It’s people who don’t always have $6 in their pocket.” In the face of reality, “People short of money buy the cheapest foods,” commented Reuben Gist of the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C. in a separate statement. “You can feed a family on the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s. It’s not about lack of food,” said Gist. It’s what’s eaten.”

• Eating too much, too young: A new study of the dietary habits of infants and toddlers in the U.S. has shown that they are “consuming too many calories and eating inappropriate foods as young as four to six months. [M]any babies showed signs of the unhealthy diet adopted by much of the American adult population.”

These findings come from the analysis of data in the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS), conducted in 2002 by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. of Princeton, NJ for the Gerber Products Company. Examining more than 3,000 young children, the study food that fruit and vegetable intakes do not meet recommendations, over half of toddlers consume too much salt, and that supplements and fortified foods may result in excessive intakes of some vitamins and minerals. Infants and toddlers can obtain a healthy diet from just breast milk, formula, and complementary foods, researchers said.

“It is very important that young children develop eating behaviors and food preferences that support good nutrition throughout their lives,” said Ronette Briefel, a senior fellow at Mathematica and a principal investigator for the study. “The findings from this study can help mothers and caregivers in selecting healthy foods and beverages for meals and snacks for their infants and toddlers.” Moreover, “parents and caregivers should model healthy eating behavior.” To view the FITS study, go to: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/Press%20Releases/fits06JADA.asp.

• Obesity and farm policy linked: Federal agricultural policy, focused on driving down corn and soybean prices, is a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation, according to a report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in Minneapolis, MN released on April 18, 2006. Low prices for corn and soybeans in recent years have encouraged the increased use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fats.

The report, Food for Thought: How U.S. Farm Policy Contributes to Obesity, claims the downward price spiral of corn and soy-based ingredients leading to the production of more low-cost, calorie-dense, processed foods “directly mirrors alarming increases in obesity rates in the U.S.”

“The food industry and consumers are following the distorted market signals driven by our farm policy,” said co-author Mark Muller, director of environment and agriculture for IATP. “If we want to seriously deal with obesity, let’s create markets that promote healthy food production and consumption. Right now, farm policy is doing just the opposite,” Muller added. To learn more, go to www.iatp.org.

• Childhood obesity growing in New York: By the age of two, one in four children in New York City is obese, according to a report released on April 5, 2006 by the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. By age four, one in three is obese.

City officials examined the records of 16,000 pre-school children in the federal Head Start program to yield their results. “The obesity epidemic begins early,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the City’s health commissioner. “At ages two and three, more than 40 percent of kids are already at an unhealthy weight. As a society, we have a responsibility to give our kids a healthier start.”

• Popular pyramid: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) celebrated the one-year anniversary of its “My Pyramid” dietary guidelines website by announcing that it received 1.7 billion hits in the past twelve months. In addition, over one million individuals are now enrolled users of the site’s tool that allows each person to analyze his or her individual eating and physical activity behavior. And 68 percent of website survey respondents said the site prompted them to take action to improve their health. Learn more yourself at: www.MyPyramid.gov.

School Food News and Notes

• Improving food security outside of school hours: The two nutritious meals per day that low-income children can receive at school each weekday does not necessarily help them avert hunger on the weekends, if family resources are low. Studies show that children lacking adequate meals at home perform poorly in school.

Across the nation, schools and food banks have been working together to address this situation in creative ways. One example is the “Nourish for Knowledge” program in Chicago, a collaboration between Chicago Public Schools and the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The program serves nearly 2,500 children in 16 city schools located in low-income neighborhoods, giving them a bag of food for the weekend. “There are so many kids whose parents just don’t have the means to provide enough nutrition for the kids, and unfortunately, there is a population of kids who just miss meals,” said Mike Mulqueen, executive director of the Food Depository.

• Considering more than the food: Studies indicate that the food and packaging that children throw away can be as much as 60 percent by weight and volume of what they are served. This has led educational and environmental advocates to urge schools to develop a packaging policy for school lunches.

In Mill Valley, CA, the Edna Maguire School has instituted a “Pack-In, Pack-Out” policy requiring students to take all their lunch packaging home. Packing it out has generated tremendous savings in reduced trash hauling charges. In Santa Cruz, CA, two female entrepreneurs created a compartmentalized, interlocking, reusable Laptop Lunch System based on the Japanese bento box. They then teamed up with parents, students, and teachers in their local school and founded the “Waste-Free Lunch Program.” This is now a national movement that includes composting, recycling, and other steps toward less wasteful and more satisfying lunches. To learn more, go to: www.wastefreelunches.org.

• Tracking the cost of commodities: Want to know trends in the cost of key school foods? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently posted charts that give a monthly trend analysis of the average cost per pound that USDA paid by month for high volume commodities used in school and other child nutrition programs in school years 2003, 2004, and 2005. Charts are provided for beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and cheese products and may be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/schtrends/tab3_avgcost05.htm.

Reports from the Field

• The use of emergency food shelves in Minnesota is rising significantly, as reported in the March 22, 2006 Herald-Review in Grand Rapids, Minnesota:

If it were not for the Grand Rapids Food Shelf, one local disabled veteran said he would starve to death. Living on $550 a month in Social Security, he feels fortunate that he pays just $150 a month to rent a lot in a trailer court. Yet, because he owns his tiny trailer house and has no mortgage, he said he qualifies for only $10 a month in food stamps.
“They are living with nothing and not knowing when their next meal will be,” said Grand Rapids Food Shelf Program Manager Ellen Christmas during a Tuesday afternoon as clients wait in long lines outside the food shelf doors.
The long lines have become a regular thing at the food shelf as the number of people living in poverty continues to grow in Itasca County. In fact, just this Tuesday there was a record number of 239 individuals who visited the food shelf and more than 4,300 pounds of food was distributed, allowing no time for the volunteers to take a break all day.

According to Christmas, an average of 3,000 pounds of food is distributed to an average of 50 households every day that the food shelf is open. Clients are allowed to visit the food shelf once a month and are given a five-day supply of food. More than half of the hungry who visit the food shelf are children and half of the adult clients are the working poor.
“Once considered an emergency option for most, food shelves have become essential to sustaining a fast growing number of families,” reported Christmas as she referred to the Minnesota results of a recent national study which found more people living in poverty or near poverty than five years ago, resulting in greater dependence on food shelves.

“Almost half of the food shelf clients responding to the Minnesota survey reported spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing and an additional one-fourth spent between 30 and 50 percent on housing. About two-thirds of the households surveyed have monthly incomes of less than $1,000.

Throughout the state of Minnesota, food shelf usage is at a record high – up by 45 percent since 2000. “Food shelves have become a necessary sustaining system and survival strategy for many households,” concluded Christmas.

• Hunger and food insecurity exist even in some of the most affluent corners of the country, as excerpts from the following article in the March 24, 2006 New York Daily News describe:

It may be one of the wealthiest regions in the country, but nearly 10 percent of all Long Islanders seek emergency food assistance each year, a study released yesterday says.
About 259,000 Nassau and Suffolk residents - including 93,000 children and 39,000 seniors - annually turn to soup kitchens, food pantries or emergency shelter, according to “Hunger in America,” a national study conducted by America’s Second Harvest.
“In any given week, emergency food programs on Long Island serve about 44,000 people,” the study said. With such demand, the pantries and kitchens often come up short, Island Harvest officials said.
The study also indicates that on Long Island - where the median household income hovers at $90,000 and the median home price approaches a half-million dollars - having a job doesn’t guarantee having a meal.
In almost half of the “hungry” households, there is at least one working adult.
“It is tragic that in one of the wealthiest regions of the nation, even working people are relying on emergency food assistance,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO of Island Harvest, which coordinates food donations to hundreds of soup kitchens and food pantries on Long Island.
“Hunger is an epidemic that is within our power to solve,” she added.
One New Bonus Item on Tap

Federal purchases of surplus commodities for schools and emergency food programs has been at a low level so far this year. But on April 14, 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would be buying up to $5 million of lamb roasts to be donated to federal food and nutrition programs, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Small Bites

The throw-away society I: In this country, U.S. containers and packaging materials constitute 32 percent of municipal solid waste, over 800 pounds annually per capita.

The throw-away society II: Americans purchase and dispose of over 300 million hot and cold beverage containers every day. One out of every three servings of water comes from a plastic bottle.

Chickening out: Chicken consumption in the U.S. more than doubled from 1970 to 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from 27.4 pounds per person to 59.2 pounds (boneless, edible weight).

Chickening out away from home: Thanks to the popularity of chicken nuggets, 42 percent of chicken in the U.S. is now sold through foodservice outlets.

Where did it come from and where is it going?: The U.S. has become expert at a practice known as “redundant trade,” where the same item is both imported and exported. For example, 20 percent of California’s table grapes are shipped to China, the largest producer of table grapes in the world.

And again: Half of California’s processed tomatoes are exported to Canada, which sells $36 million of processed tomatoes to the U.S. annually.

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