With WIC participation declining at an alarming rate, some food banks and hunger-relief agencies are taking steps to shore up their local programs. Participation in the federal benefit for women and their children has dropped 23% from 2010 through 2018, said Food Research & Action Center in a report released…
Food Bank News
Challenged by local funders to identify complex social problems and innovative ways to address them, Patti Habeck, President of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, found an answer in lettuce. Along with Fork Farms of Appleton, Wis., the food bank is deploying small-scale, hydroponic farming systems at food pantries, schools and other…
As a graduate student at Yale University, Emma Stein marveled at the sheer convenience of meal preparation kits like Blue Apron and Plated. When it came time for her to develop her master’s thesis in public health, it wasn’t a stretch for her to wonder how such kits might be…
SNAP is by far the most effective tool available to help the country’s 40 million food-insecure individuals, so it’s natural that hunger-relief advocates always want to see SNAP participation and spending go up. For the past five years, however, the trend has been the opposite. The latest figures, released last…
It’s the rare celebrity chef who is also a policy wonk, but that at least partly describes Michel Nischan, a three-time James Beard Award winning chef who’s as conversant as anyone in Congress on the nuances of the farm bill. Nischan is also a food activist and innovator who figured…
Three Square Food Bank is taking food rescue to the next level with a cool tool — the blast chiller. Common in commercial kitchens, blast chillers are not widely used in food rescue, though they are well-suited to the task. The fast-acting freezers can take food from thoroughly hot to…
In Catherine D’Amato’s vision of the future, doctors will ask patients whether they have enough food in their household just as routinely as they inquire about smoking or alcohol consumption. Hunger will increasingly be viewed as a matter of public health, and public and private entities will work together to…
With attention focused on whether some able-bodied adults may be restricted from receiving SNAP (today is the last day to submit comments on this Trump Administration proposal*), it’s a good time to consider the many positive provisions tucked away the recently passed farm bill. While the protection of SNAP was…
Should SNAP participants be allowed to use their benefits to purchase sugary beverages? This enduring question got put to the test again this week when two prominent health organizations recommended that recipients of federal nutrition assistance be dissuaded from buying sugary drinks. The advice was part of a policy statement…