From Food Insecurity in America: An Emergency We Prepared For, An Experience to Learn From.

Created on 2020-03-20 17:02

Published on 2020-03-20 17:49

Our country’s farmers, community leaders, school districts, colleges, state and local government agencies, religious institutions, private enterprise, charities and advocacy groups have worked for many years to identify the weaknesses of, and strengthen, our food system in preparation for a crisis.

The following is a list of key actors and issues in the food system, how they are affected by the COVID-19 emergency, and how citizens, organizations and governments may help them respond to this challenge. For the most part the country has adequate resources to endure the disruption caused by the current disease outbreak. However, the weaknesses in the food system are more visible now, which allows for and prompts us as citizens to reconsider both short term and long-term changes to how we import, produce, process, store, distribute and sell food. 

Farmers Markets. Farmers markets are by their nature gatherings of many people. Similar to a grocery store, they are an essential service that needs to remain open for business. Because they typically take place outside in the open air, it is easier to practice social distancing while shopping at a farmers market compared to inside a retail store. Farmers markets are often scheduled in advance in pre-established locations. In the current environment, it may be beneficial to broaden the reach of farm-to-consumer direct sales.

Keep farmers markets open with proper food safety and distancing rules

Emergency rules:

• Only allow sellers to touch products and hand to customer or place in bag/box
• Establish safe distance from uncovered food and/or cover food with transparent barrier
• Enforce food safety measures to disinfect hands and food contact surfaces.
• Limit sampling to foods pre-packaged in licensed facilities
• Allow unscheduled pop-up farm stands with minimal red tape, possibly in publicly owned spaces.
• Encourage production and sale of legal prepared cottage foods.
• Root veg, early leafy greens, greenhouse grows coming up now. Grains, meat, eggs, milled flours are often available to farm stands to sell.
• To improve food distribution into underserved areas, suspend any rules restricting geographic provenance of food products.

 Note the FDA’s conclusions about the risk of food transmitting coronavirus:

• There has been NO evidence of the transmission of the Corona virus from food or food packaging.
• Food products do not have to be placed on-hold or recalled if an employee at a food facility is diagnosed with COVID-19.
• Personal hygiene as well as facility, equipment, and utensil cleaning and sanitization procedures that are required in GMPs are expected to still be appropriate amid this crisis.

Food Banks. Food banks serve a critical role in diverting distressed or excess food into their local communities are reduced or not cost to clients. Without food banks, we run the risk of destroying usable food when it is most needed. Some food banks have slowed operations or closed temporarily due to safety concerns for both workers and clients. In some instances, volunteer workers feel the risk of infection to themselves or their families is too great. Others have found that the high demand for food products at retail stores has decreased what is normally made available to them. Food deliveries to high risk and non-mobile clients is a key service provided by some food banks, and may be the most critical problem to solve when a food bank suspends operation.

• Identify and activate alternative aggregation and distribution methods
• Move available food to any functioning food storage and distribution facility

Food Waste. For any number of reasons, food handlers regularly find themselves with extra cases of food and body care products. Since the cost of disposal is high and tax credits are available for bona fide donations to qualified food banks, 

• Are we still able to divert unused food to families in need?
• When a food bank’s operations are suspended, what alternatives exist?

Meal Delivery. Curtailed food deliveries by programs like Meals on Wheels and food pantries put significant stress on the clients that had depended on them.

• Alternative methods?
• Ask programs to refer clients to alternative and temporary providers?
• How to let local neighbors know someone needs meals?
• Encourage local outreach to shut ins. Door hangers. Post cards. Posters. Email. Door knocking.
• Create telephone hotline and web page for people to sign u
• p to offer help prepare and deliver meals and a place to ask for help.
• Can rideshare drivers and public employees provide this service while on duty at free or reduce charge?

People with Health Challenges.

• Separate hours for shopping at retail food stores and pharmacies
• Can’t shop – encourage online ordering, but this is experiencing its own disruption
• Requires credit card to shop online, don’t assume everyone has one
• Can’t work – normalize use of food pantries and free community meals
• Losing delivery services in an area
• Neighborhood response – cook and deliver meals for others
• Sign up to request help via telephone or web page

School Meals. Schools and colleges often have refrigerators, freezers, ovens, processing capacity and logistics to provide food and other assistance similar to a food bank. It’s possible to keep school cafeterias open with paid and volunteer staff to provide meals to students and their families who are temporarily kept out of school.

• Normalize community meals.
• Low (at cost or subsidized) price to feed entire family.
• Use this community nexus to share information about resources and who is in need.
• Food Aid:Request access to strategic stockpiles of basic goods.
• Make facility available to active food banks and other assistance programs.
• Use drive-by pick up of school meals, but provide enough to feed 6+ people.

 Poverty & Loss of Wages. Unemployment and under employment remain a foundational problem in both rural and urban areas. Even full-time jobs paid at minimum wage may not cover basic living expenses in areas of high housing, food, child care, medical and transportation costs. Reduced hours and loss of jobs have an extreme effect for these people and their communities.

• Minor loss of wages has huge impact
• Wages will not be replaced any time soon. This is a permanent crisis.
• Unemployment payments often not available or delayed for part time, gig, and non-W-2 workers.
• School closures require day care or force workers to stay at home with children.
• Can’t “stock up” when food is available
• May not have physical access to food stores
• Quality of available food may be low: sugar, starches, processed meat.

Rural Food Access. Rural grocery stores may not receive adequate food deliveries to serve population. Larger retailers may have the clout to divert supplies to their own warehouses at the expense of independent food retailers.

• May not be a grocery store within an hour’s drive.
• Rural food deliver services are rare.
• Prices may increase.
• Hoarding especially damaging in areas of lower supply.

Urban Food Access.

• Smaller independent and remote stores may not receive deliveries or may receive reduced deliveries
• Quality may suffer.
• Prices may increase.
• May not have a grocery within walking distance
• Food delivery services to homes are overwhelmed.

Community Gardens.

• Often too seasonal, but more important than ever
• Make sure affordable seeds are available
• How to extend season of local food production cost effectively?
• What are mechanisms for distributing this food to those most in need?

Farmers.

• Have stores of food or keep livestock that can be slaughtered.
• Typically are dependent on feedlots and slaughterhouses to market livestock. Under what circumstances will we allow and encourage on farm slaughter?
• Typically dependent on grain elevators to aggregate and market corn, wheat, etc.
• How to revive local processing into products usable by households?
• How to sell and distribute usable food products when logistics are no longer in place?
• Grains and other foods that are normally exported may be needed locally for some time.
• What products have the longest shelf live to provide best long term resilience?

Global Food Logistics

• Some states are at tail end of global supply chain. Food may be diverted at port of entry to highest bidder or shipped to closest buyer. Quarantines may complicate deliveries by train and truck.
• Food logistics have been changed to reflect needs of global efficiency, not local needs for long term resilience and food security
• Which food importers have the most control over food supplies? How do we bring them into the conversation to get accurate information and build a reliable partnership?
• Railcars can be used to temporarily import, store, and transport grains and oils around the country.

Consumption Patterns.

• Ability and willingness to switch from convenience foods to staple foods for some amount of time.
• Provide demonstration videos of how to prepare satisfying meals from very few pantry ingredients.
• Meat, Eggs, Dairy, Fruit, and grains remain viable and often locally produced. Reemphasize the ability of many citizens to buy from producers in the food region instead of packaged branded goods.
• Reemphasize that buying in season and preserving foods is cheapest way to food security.

Strategic Reserves.

• Few granaries and mills have been left operating at the country level. They have all been consolidated into large operations, often out of state.
• Grain storage concentrated at just a few large mills and breweries.
• Most corn grown in US is not food grade. Grown for livestock feedlots, dairy cows, sugar and ethanol. Consider how a strategic FOOD grain reserve would alleviate hunger or famine in case of a long term crisis.

Cottage Foods infrastructure.

• Cottage food operators can quickly turn raw materials into nutritious edible local food
• Localize storage and processing at micro scale, but this makes food immediately available
• Community resiliency – informal networks can identify who is in need, where raw materials are.
• Spirit of neighborhood self-sufficiency provides hope and sense of purpose
• Can offset lost income during period on unemployment.
• Issue emergency regulations relaxing requirements for cottage food producers and buyers?

Food processing infrastructure is robust.

• Commercial Kitchens are available but not being used
• Industrial kitchens still operating
• Restaurants are closed or not operating at capacity
• Schools not in session, facilities available
• Food manufacturers typically process ingredients from outside local area, for sale mostly outside of local area.
• Long term focus on developing US supply chains that use ingredients grown here to make products sold here.
• Nationwide and statewide coordination could boost capacity to provide affordable staple foods during crisis.

Maintenance foods. Agricultural states often export most of the food they produce.Consider how these resources can be diverted from sale to international markets to instead providing nutrition for US communities.

• Flour
• Beans
• Edible seeds
• Cheese
• Grains
• Livestock (hogs, beef, lamb, poultry, etc.)
• Eggs

Nutrition. Nutrition is like to suffer during an extended crisis due to limited selection of foods and lower quality foods. Especially in an epidemic, supplementation with inexpensive vitamins makes sense.

• Multivitamin including high dose D3 for immunity
• Red Cross and Military. These institutions and others have the capability to set up mobile health and nutrition services and have existing supplies available to deploy.
• Mobile Commissaries
• Emergency Food Reserves
• Even one meal a day makes a difference
• Locate at community meeting point
• Buy meat, eggs, dairy, grains from local sources to support local producers

Faith Based Community. To a lesser extent, religious institutions also have resources available to provide their communities.

• Kitchens and Commissaries
• Aware of greatest needs within community
• Host “community gatherings” rather than “soup kitchens”.
• Spiritual support is extraordinarily important.
• Able to raise monetary and in-kind donations quickly
•  Larger institutions have stores of staple foods for emergency distribution
• Start converting nonprofit fallow church lands to community food production

Stranded Students. When schools close, they often have students who are dependent on housing and food services who are suddenly homeless.

• Encourage schools to support these students.
• Keep school services open
• Identify at risk students

Grocery Stores. Last but not least, food stores will continue to order, shelve and sell all the food that is available to them. It’s important to note there is no food shortage or slowdown in food production and shipments. It’s an outage, not a shortage. Billions of dollars worth of food that normally are prepared by and purchases from restaurants is now being redirected to grocery stores so consumers can ook it at home. That transfer is a massive complicted process that already underway. The grocery business is designed to provide one week’s worth of groceries to each family within a mile or two of each store location. When families increased their purchases to two or more weeks supplies in anticipation of a lengthy quarantine period, normal supplies were quickly depleted. Similar to the idea of “flattening the curve” of demand for medical care by slowing spread of the virus, consumers should be encouraged to flatten the curve of excess demand for groceries by not over-buying or hoarding. There is enough to go around if we all keep our heads.

Long Term Issues.

• Identify and maintain county level strategic food reserves and processing capabilities.
• Map the food supply and distribution system, including local and global actors, to better understand the dynamics of supply and demand in the event of an emergency.
• Apply the experience of COVID-19 to each state’s everyday challenges in providing adequate food and nutrition to its citizens. Leverage the experience of general food insecurity to create understanding of and empathy with people who experience food insecurity every day and throughout their lives.