Report: 45 Million Americans Went Hungry in 2009

(Nov. 16) -- Last year "food insecurity" amongst Americans remained at the highest levels it has ever been since the government began monitoring hunger fifteen years ago, according to a new federal report.

Despite the fact that recession appeared to be easing in some places around the country, authorities classified about 45 million Americans as "food insecure" during 2009, and about 6.8 million as having "very low food security."

"This is unthinkable. It's like we are living in a Third World country," food relief organization Feeding America president Vicky Escarra told the Washington Post.

Similarly, the number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 40.8 million in May, shortly before the program was cut by almost 12 billion in August, though those cuts will not go into effect until 2014. Food stamps received a large boost from the 2008 stimulus bill, both to encourage spending and to alleviate the worst of the recession.

Paradoxically, obesity rates also increased in almost half of the states in the same year, without decreasing in a single state, suggesting that a poor economy may be taxing not just the quantity, but the quality of the American food supply as well.

The group hardest hit by hunger appears to be young mothers raising children alone, as well as blacks and Hispanics, who were twice as likely to be food insecure as whites.

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