G06: I&S What is Fair?: Right to Food

Campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford has said child food poverty is getting "devastatingly" worse.
The England forward, 23, has called on people to write to their MP in a bid to end a "child hunger pandemic".
He has spoken out as a Food Foundation survey found 15% of 6,490 households have experienced insecurity about food in the past six months.

Large swathes of the UK population are suffering a rise in poverty, with many households unable to secure an adequate and nutritious diet. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, 11.7 million people in the UK, about 18% of the population, received a relatively low income before housing costs. During the pandemic, around 9% of all households — 5.9 million adults and 1.7 million children — have experienced food poverty.

Rankings and trends
Explore the year-on-year trends for the Global Food Security Index.
Figures are from annual baseline model (September 2021).

For the eleventh consecutive year, Feeding America conducted our annual Map the Meal Gap study to improve our understanding of food insecurity and food costs at the local level. The most recent release is based on data from 2019. In response to COVID-19, we also released a companion study and interactive map that illustrate the projected impact of the pandemic on local food insecurity in 2020 and 2021. To better assess the current and future state of local food insecurity, it is critical to understand historical variations prior to the pandemic. Only then can we develop effective strategies to reach people at risk of hunger.

People wasted roughly one-sixth of all available food in 2019, a new United Nations report finds. Most food that goes uneaten — 61 percent — is thrown out by home cooks and diners.

Growing up in poverty affects American children in a number of ways. A new study published this week shows that one effect of poverty is that it can harm brain development.

It has long been known that growing up poor is linked to poorer performance in school. The new study examines how poverty affects both school performance and brain development. It shows that growing up poor harms children's brain development. It also reveals that differences in brain development between rich and poor children may account for up to 20 percent of the differences in their school performance.

For the poor, food is not only scarce — often, it’s also rotten and germ-ridden.

Corner stores and small supermarkets that feed vast swaths, or areas, of impoverished Philadelphia offer bacteria-laced foods in unhealthy conditions, a Drexel University study shows. Eating such foods can lead to foodborne illness.

The World Food Prize was created in 1986 to award scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food.

“We must act with urgency to stabilise the households of our vulnerable children. No child in the UK should be going to bed hungry. Whatever your feeling, opinion, or judgement, food poverty is never the child's fault. Let's protect our young. Let's wrap arms around each other and stand together to say that this is unacceptable, that we are united in protecting our children. Together we can end this problem.”