A new report finds Ohio has the sixth highest rate of food insecurity in the nation. The term ‘food insecure’ is used to describe people without reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable and nutritious food.
The report from the USDA says in 2014, 16.9 percent of Ohioans lived in food insecure households.
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks calls it “a serious crisis.” She says the economic recovery has failed to reach everyone in the state.
The USDA also reports a widening gap in food security between Ohio and the rest of the country.
Ohio’s rate of food insecurity was up about a percentage point from 2013. Nationally, the food insecurity rate declined slightly, from 14.3 percent in 2013 to 14.0 percent in 2014.
Only Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas ranked higher for food insecurity than Ohio.
