TEFAP Alliance Blog

Foodlinks America - September 15, 2006

In this issue:

· Appropriations Decisions Likely to be Postponed
· Children Say Yes to Free Fruit but Shun Vegetables
· Entitlement Commodities for FY 2007 Listed
· Food Stamp Facts
· School Food News
· Obesity Round-Up
· Reports from the Field
· Small Bites

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

Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request a free subscription to the newsletter or to submit story ideas, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@281.com.

Appropriations Decisions Likely to be Postponed

With Congressional leaders eager to adjourn by the end of September in order to return to their districts to campaign, it is appearing increasingly likely that appropriations decisions for fiscal year 2007 will be put off until after the November 7 elections. Up to eight of the 11 bills necessary to fund government programs next year will not be completed before the adjournment.

Congress is expected to pass a stopgap continuing resolution to keep programs going through November. Most of the spending bills – including legislation covering food programs administered by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services – will see action during a lame-duck session of Congress scheduled to begin in mid-November. And if Democrats win control of either or both houses of Congress, appropriations decisions will probably be delayed until the start of the 110th Congress in January 2007.

Children Say Yes to Free Fruit but Shun Vegetables

The first analysis of the highly-touted Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program is in and the results are mixed. Eighth and tenth grade children ate more fruit when it was offered free throughout the school day, but fifth graders actually ate less produce, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released on September 8, 2006.

“This is very consistent with other studies where we have seen that programs in schools have been able to increase fruit consumption,” but have not improved vegetable consumption, said Howell Wechsler, CDC’s director of adolescent and school health. The research examined consumption patterns and attitudes towards fruits and vegetables among 725 students in fifth, eighth, and tenth grades in five Mississippi schools during the 2004-2005 school year.

The study found that students in grades eight and ten increased their consumption of fruit but not vegetables during the school year, by a significant 0.34 and 0.61 servings per day, respectively. However, fruit and vegetable consumption among fifth graders decreased significantly, though the CDC noted that such findings “are consistent with results of research … that younger children tend to prefer sweeter, more energy-dense foods … but that these preferences begin to change at puberty.”

The results were not a surprise to nutritionists who work with school-age children. Other studies have shown that vegetables are a particularly hard sell for young children, who also tend to show a lack of interest in trying new foods. Wechsler summed up the pilot program findings, saying that, “This intervention shows great promise, but on its own is not enough to turn the corner.” For details from the CDC study, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5535a1.htm.

Entitlement Commodities for FY 2007 Listed

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced commodity food items available to school meal and food distribution programs in fiscal year 2007, which begins October 1, 2006. The September 11, 2006 announcement lists government-purchased foods for the National School Lunch Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), as well as foods for institutions and elderly nutrition programs.

The wide variety of products includes fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, grains, and oils, though different items are available to different programs. The widest selection of commodities is available to the school lunch program. The 198 items listed for schools range from fresh apples and pears to canned salsa and sunflower butter. Regular and soy powdered infant formula and reduced fat cheese are among the 59 items that will be available to the CSFP, and FDPIR agencies can choose from 81 items, including canned bison stew and frozen ground buffalo meat.

The big unknown for next year is the number of bonus or surplus commodities that will be offered over and above the foods that agencies can buy with program entitlement dollars. USDA has said that instant nonfat dry milk will be available as a bonus item in fiscal 2007, but no other foods are scheduled for purchase at this time. There has been a huge drop in bonus commodities in fiscal year 2006, though USDA has yet to release annual totals. Emergency feeding organizations in TEFAP have been struggling to feed record numbers of hungry Americans this year without the benefit of USDA bonus commodities.

To view the fiscal 2007 listings, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/foods/default.htm.

Food Stamp Facts

· Spending patterns detailed: Low-income households use their food stamp benefits soon after they get them and have little left over at the end of the month, according to An Analysis of Food Stamp Benefit Redemption Patterns released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in June 2006. Data from the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system that USDA implemented in 2003 helped the Department compile a national profile of food stamp EBT transactions and shopping patterns.

Among the findings: most households shopped at more than one store; recipients made an average of eight food stamp purchases each month; most transactions were small – averaging $25.50; 80 percent of all benefits were used within two weeks of issuance; and most food stamp benefits – 83 percent of the total value provided – were redeemed at supermarkets. For additional details, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/…ProgramOperations/EBTTransaction.pdf.

· Still serving over 26 million: Food stamp participation in the U.S. increased slightly in June 2006 to 26,076,409. An additional 63,063 people joined the program that month and the total count was more than half a million persons above June 2005.

· Millions still unserved and trying to reach them: In spite of the huge number of people receiving food stamps, it is estimated that more than 40 percent of potential eligibles do not get benefits to which they are entitled. Concerted efforts are being made to increase access and enroll eligible households through outreach programs and simplification of the application process.

To that end, USDA announced on September 7, 2006 that it was awarding five grants totaling $5 million to organizations in the states of Alabama, California, Georgia, and Virginia to undertake projects to boost participation. These unique, technology-oriented, projects will include: an automated, joint food stamp and meals on wheels application that can be used in clients’ homes with mobile technology; a phone bank with web-based screening and application tools operated through remote enrollment centers; and computers and point-of-sale devices placed at locations where a non-profit food provider organization, which also is an authorized food stamp retailer, operates a food buying club. More details on the grants may be viewed at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/government/06-participation-grants.htm.

Additional materials on food stamp outreach have been published by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) in Washington, D.C. FRAC’s Guide to Food Stamp Outreach Collaborations provides an overview of partnerships with various sectors that show promise in increasing participation. The guide outlines outreach strategies that are school-based, retailer-based, faith-based, and workplace-based, in addition to addressing telephone helplines, linkages with health programs, and outreach to immigrant communities. To view the 55-page Guide, visit: http://www.frac.org/pdf/fspguide06/fspguide06.pdf.

School Food News

· School lunch improvements noted: Another national advocacy group released its assessment of school meals recently and concluded that its “Results show that school lunches are increasingly healthful in many districts.” A “School Lunch Report Card” from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in Washington, D.C., released on August 24, 2006, analyzed lunch menus at elementary schools in 18 major districts around the country.

“Fairfax, Virginia came out on top with an A. The nation’s largest school district, New York City, is another star pupil with its focus on local produce and whole grains and a ban on whole milk,” PCRM reported. “But a few districts continue to lag behind: Memphis City School District received an F.”

“Childhood obesity is a bigger threat to kids than the schoolyard bully, so lunchrooms must provide healthful, low-fat vegetarian fare,” said PCRM nutritionist Dulcie Ward, R.D. “The biggest change our report found this year is in much greater availability of vegetarian and vegan options.” For additional information, go to: http://www.pcrm.org/news/release060824.html.

· The eligibility see-saw: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has long been concerned with “overcertification” in school meals programs, which causes children to receive free or reduced price meals when they are ineligible. Overcertification is an inherent problem resulting from the fact that parents submit eligibility information on their children once a year, but family income for low- and middle-income earners fluctuates considerably from month-to-month. A new study by USDA, The Income Volatility See-Saw: Implications for School Lunch, confirmed “that the lower a household’s income, the more likely it is to face volatile swings in monthly income.”

USDA found that “for households with income below 185 percent of poverty in at least 1 month of the year, two-thirds (65 percent) had income above that threshold in at least 1 other month in the same year. Households with average monthly income between
130 and 240 percent of poverty were particularly affected by volatility, crossing the eligibility line five times per year on average.” In short, USDA concluded that, “Month-to-month income changes could feasibly explain a large portion of estimated over-certification rates.” To learn more, see: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR23/.

· School lunch participants profiled: A new USDA study provides some detail on just who are the 29 million children who participate in the National School Lunch Program daily. Free-lunch recipients are about evenly divided among White, African American, and Hispanic children. Within those ethnic groups, however, Whites had the smallest share of students in the free lunch category, but they were just as likely as other groups to receive reduced-price meals.

Other notable characteristics included: two-thirds of participants from female-headed households received free lunches; participation was higher among children aged 8-13 than among older children; almost half of lunch participants lived in households below 185 percent of federal poverty guidelines compared with about one-third of all students; and almost all students in families receiving food stamps or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) got free meals. For additional information, visit: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB17/.

· States aided by new rule: Implementing a change made in the Child Nutrition Act Amendments of 2004, USDA published a final rule in the August 11, 2006 Federal Register that increases the minimum State Administrative Expense (SAE) grant for each state overseeing school lunch and breakfast programs. The minimum SAE grant is increased from $100,000 to $200,000 a year, and will be adjusted for inflation beginning in fiscal year 2009. The new rule also requires that for fiscal years 2005 through 2007, no state shall receive less than it did in fiscal year 2004. For details, go to: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/…E6-13154.pdf.

Obesity Round-Up

· Big babies: More American infants are obese than a couple decades ago, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, who found an increase in obese infants of more than 73 percent. In 2001, 5.9 percent of infants were obese, compared to 3.4 percent in 1980. Results were reported in the July 2006 issue of the academic journal Obesity.

The findings have major implications for the nation’s obesity epidemic. “Even our very youngest children are gaining excess weight, not just adults and adolescents,” noted Dr. Matthew Gillman, a Harvard professor and lead author of the study. “Our obesity prevention efforts need to start at the earliest stages of human development,” he said. For more details, see: http://www.obesityresearch.org/cgi/content/…FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT.

· Childhood obesity hard to beat later in life: Children who are overweight in their preschool years are significantly more likely to be overweight or obese at age 12, according to research reported in the September 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics. Researchers examined the heights and weights of over 1,000 healthy American children in 10 locations and found that, “Children who were overweight during the preschool period were more than five times as likely to be overweight at age 12 years.” To learn more, see: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/3/e594.

· The world’s biggest problem: Obesity has eclipsed hunger and malnutrition as a critical international issue claimed participants at the annual meeting of the International Congress on Obesity, held in Sydney, Australia in early September. “This insidious creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world,” said Paul Zimmet, an Australian diabetes expert and chairman of the Congress. “Obesity is an international scourge,” Zimmit claimed. “It’s as big a threat as global warming and bird flu.”

The transition from “a starving world to an obese one has occurred with dramatic speed,” due to a global shift from diets based on cereals and grains to diets based on animal products and vegetable oils, explained Barry Popkin, a University of North Carolina nutrition professor, at the meeting. “Obesity is the norm globally and under-nutrition, while still important in a few countries and in targeted populations in many others, is no longer the dominant disease,” said Popkin. “The reality is that globally far more obesity than under-nutrition exists.” World Health Organization statistics presented at the conference confirmed that opinion, showing one billion adults overweight, including 300 million of them obese, and some 600 million people malnourished.

Conference presenters also noted that childhood obesity in Asia is increasing at about one percent a year, similar to the rates in the U.S. and Britain. Global trade policies, with proposed changes unresolved in the recently-failed World Trade Organization negotiations, are also contributing to the problem. “The trade policies that are currently in play are those which subsidize and distort the market to make fats and sugars cheaper and fruits and vegetables more expensive,” said Dr. Phillip James, a British obesity expert.

Reports from the Field

· As in other areas around the country, emergency food providers in Virginia are facing a deluge of need, as reported in The Roanoke Times of August 13, 2006:

There’s no doubt that “food insecurity” is growing in the New River Valley.

The expression — coined in the 1980s — refers to the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources. For 11.9 percent of American households, it means going without when the money’s spent.

For Debbie Harrell, executive director of the Pulaski Daily Bread, it means a never-ending job. “I do know that several of the people who come in here, this is the only time they eat. I try to make sure they’re full when they walk out the door,” said Harrell, in her second year. “When I first started, 125 meals a day was really big. Now, that’s a slow day. Our average right now is 185 a day.”

In 1987 — the first year the kitchen operated — 10,467 meals were served. Last year, the number was 38,200. Harrell fully expects the number to go over 40,000 this year. In June alone, nearly 4,000 people were served — the second-highest month in Pulaski Daily Bread’s history.

Harrell has many theories as to why the need for food has increased, based on what she sees day in and day out. “I think a lot of it is unemployment,” she noted. “Look at Pulaski. All the plants are closing down.”

She points to senior citizens who don’t receive enough Social Security benefits to cover the food bill, to working parents whose children are out of school during the summer months and don’t get a free lunch, to the new Pulaski Area Transit, which might be bringing hunger out of the woodwork. “I see a lot of new faces. They may not have been able to get here before.”

Nancy Haynie, director of the Giles Christian Mission, said she sees a need for a similar offering in Giles County. Several years ago, she said, area churches took turns operating a soup kitchen. “There is a need. Definitely.”

“We have seen an increase in about the last six to eight months,” Haynie said. “I just got a call from a lady who hasn’t asked for food since Christmas.” She remembers the woman’s exact words: “When I pay my utilities and put gas in the car, I don’t have money for food.”

Vicky Collins, director of Radford’s Department of Social Services, knows that feeling, too. She’s only 43, but she feels like Old Mother Hubbard. “Just within the past several weeks, we purchased $1,000 worth of food from Wades,” she said last month. “That is now completely gone.” The pantry her department operates in Radford has been bare much of the summer. “The donations we’re getting aren’t even close to keeping up with the demand,” she said. “We’re going to have to limit people to one bag of food to meet the need. That’s the first time.”

· Besides increased demand, many food banks are struggling with providing culturally appropriate food for the diverse populations that come through their doors. A report from The Record in Hackensack, NJ on August 21, 2006, details local efforts to increase food variety.
North Jersey pantries are struggling to provide ethnically diverse food to serve the region’s changing populations. Food banks and pantries typically rely on donated items to fulfill their mission, taking whatever is given to stock the shelves. Most items — such as cereal, milk, canned vegetables and soup — are not culturally or ethnically specific. And while these items are preferred because they transcend a variety of cultures and can meet the nutritional needs of most clients, officials want to appeal to the growing number of immigrants and minorities.
“What happens with the regular food we get is it comes from the food industry and we get what they have available,'’ said Meara Nigro, director of communication for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside, which provides food to approximately 85 pantries in Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Hudson counties. “But we do try to be sensitive to the various ethnic and cultural communities, because we realize New Jersey has one of the most diverse populations in the nation.”
Stocking shelves with foods such as kimchi, tortillas, black beans, couscous and hummus help to ease the burdens of the families in North Jersey’s growing Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Caribbean, Jewish and Muslim communities.
“If people can provide those cultural foods, it’s terrific,'’ said Patricia Espy, executive director of the Center for Food Action in Englewood, which runs seven emergency food pantries in Bergen and Passaic counties. “We find that when we are dealing with seniors and if we keep [the foods] close to what they are used to and what their culture has made them familiar with, it’s a real plus.”
In Palisades Park, the Center for Food Action opened a Korean-American food pantry in March. The pantry, which opens twice a week, is becoming one of the busiest food distribution locations run by the Center for Food Action. The pantry dispenses Korean staples of kimchi, rice cakes, Korean noodles, dried anchovies, soybean and hot pepper paste and serves an average of 26 households a month, said Soo Eo, site manager. Most clients are senior citizens and primarily speak Korean. “They really appreciate it,'’ Eo said. It’s a difficult time for them, but it’s easier when they get food here. It’s much more delightful.”
At the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morristown, which distributed 54,000 bags of groceries last year to Morris County residents, workers started making changes to shelves to better serve its clients. By next year, the pantry wants to become 100 percent client choice: Those in need will decide what food they take home, instead of having volunteers pick out about 40 percent of what goes in their grocery bags, which is how the program runs now.
Rosemary Gilmartin, executive director, said because of the change they recently bought tons of rice, packaged in 2-pound bags. She said they also receive donations of dry beans, which are popular with Hispanics, which make up 44 percent of her clients. “Seven years ago, you couldn’t give dry beans away, because a lot of people didn’t know how to cook them,'’ she said. The pantry is also seeing a lot of immigrants who come from rural communities, who prefer fresh legumes rather than canned or frozen. To accommodate their needs, the pantry has started a program that makes fresh vegetables available.
“We don’t look at our clients like they are all the same,'’ she said. “We have people from different parts of the world. If you have enough people that want a particular food, then we will get it.”
Small Bites

The way we live II (from U.S. Census Bureau statistics on single-family homes in 2005):

High in the sky: 55 percent of houses have two stories or more.

And room for wheels: 84 percent have a garage for at least two cars.

Like a hotel: 88 percent have at least three bedrooms; 39 percent have four or more.

With ample indoor facilities: 96 percent have at least two bathrooms; 28 percent have three or more.

We’re cool: 89 percent have central air conditioning.

And warm: 50 percent have a fireplace.

mvauthier :: Sep.15.2006 :: Foodlinks America :: No Comments »:: Print This Post

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