17 million families faced hunger in ’09

LOS ANGELES – About 15 percent of U.S. households – 17.4 million families – lacked enough money to feed themselves at some point last year, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

Released Monday, the study found that 5.6 million of these households – with as many as 1 million children – had financial problems that forced them to miss meals regularly.

The number of these “food insecure” homes stayed somewhat steady from 2008 to 2009, but was more than triple compared with 2006, before the recession brought double-digit unemployment.

The findings were from a survey of 46,000 households about hunger-related issues, including whether family members were able to pay for balanced meals, skipping meals or running low on or out of food and unable to restock because of financial constraints.

While the still-high levels of food insecurity were troubling, the survey showed “a stabilization” of the problem since the recession ended, Kevin Concannon, Agriculture Department undersecretary, said Monday.

Concannon said the findings underscore the importance of federal and state programs to create a safety net to help families and children access food.

“We anticipate that food security will improve as the economy improves,” he said. But “in the near term, without these benefits, many families would face far more severe problems getting the nutritious food they need.”