Food Stamp Recipients Top 30 Million

The number of Americans using food stamps has surged past 30 million. This astonishing number tops the previous record set in the wake of Hurricane Katrina when an entire region was devastated and its people scattered across the country.

"We soon will have the most food stamp recipients in the history of our country," said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, a D.C.-based anti-hunger policy organization. "If the economic forecasts come true, we're likely to see the most hunger that we've seen since the 1981 recession and maybe since the 1960s, when these programs were established."

Analysts say that the biggest culprits behind the increased dependence on the food stamp program are rising unemployment and steadily increasing food prices. Since this time last year food prices have risen 6.1 percent, while unemployment has reached 6.5 percent and is likely to reach 9 percent by the end of 2009.

These numbers are disturbing to those that monitor poverty levels and hunger. Last year, according to the Department of Agriculture, 11.9 million Americans went hungry. Children accounted for 700,000 of those hungry Americans, marking an increase of 50 percent from the year before.

Those numbers are likely to be on the rise as unemployment continues to skyrocket and others already on the rolls run out of their benefits. To qualify for food stamps a family of four must make less than $27,564 per year. Unfortunately, the benefits are not indexed to inflation and are only adjusted once a year, leaving much to be desired as the price of food skyrockets.

"At a time when we have more people turning to the food stamp program, it is less and less able to meet their basic food needs," said Stacy Dean, the research center's director of food assistance policy.

Source The Washington Post:

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