Millions of people – including one in five families with children – have gone hungry or skipped meals in recent weeks because they couldn’t afford regular groceries, new data on food insecurity shows.
According to the Food Foundation Tracker15% of British households – equivalent to around 8 million adults and 3 million children – experienced food insecurity in January, as high food prices continued to hit the pockets of low-income families.
Expects warned that persistently high levels of food insecurity among low-income families would be a “health emergency” that would increase the prevalence of conditions linked to poor nutrition, such as malnutrition and rickets.
Nearly two-thirds (60%) of food insecure households reported buying less fruit and 44% bought fewer vegetables as they struggled with the ongoing cost of living crisis. In contrast, only 11% of food secure households bought less fruit and 6% fewer vegetables.
Although the foundation has previously reported that the amount of vegetables bought by British households has fallen to the lowest level in 50 yearsThe latest tracker data shows that the situation is much worse for low-income families.
Citing Guardian revelations that the NHS has recorded a rise in hospital admissions due to nutrient deficiencies, the foundation said falling fruit and vegetable consumption among the poorest was likely to increase health inequalities and put additional pressure on the NHS.
Although inflation had eased in recent months, food prices remained high, the foundation said. The price of a “reasonably priced, sufficiently nutritiousThe weekly basket of food has increased by 24-26% over the past two years, the report said.
Food insecurity – based on a regular Food Foundation survey of more than 6,000 people – has fallen slightly from 17.5% in January 2023, but remains at the same level as in the chaotic first weeks of the pandemic in 2020.
The foundation said the ongoing cost of living crisis had made food insecurity the norm for many. Millions of low-income families who cannot afford access to regular and healthy food have drawn attention to the inadequacy of social security support.
According to the latest data from the Food Foundation, 45% of households receiving universal credit – the main low-income benefit – reported food insecurity. The foundation said all children in families with universal credit should be automatically entitled to free school meals.
There are growing concerns that from April the Government will end the Household Support Fund – a £900m-a-year emergency fund managed by English councils and widely used to fund school holiday meal vouchers for families with children on free school meals.
Michael Marmot, a public health expert and professor of epidemiology at University College London, said: ‘There are fewer needs more basic than nutritious food for you and your children. In Great Britain, one in five households with children will not be able to meet these basic needs by 2024. They are simply too poor; and the poorer they are, the less likely they are to meet that need.”
Henry Dimbleby, a former government food adviser and author of the 2021 National Food Strategy, called the latest statistics a “health emergency” that would cast a long shadow on public health.
A Government spokesperson said: “We recognize the pressures people are facing, which is why we are providing £104 billion of living costs worth an average of £3,700 per household, while our healthy eating programs help more than 3 million children.
‘We know that work is the best way out of poverty – so we are investing billions through our ‘back to work’ plan to remove barriers to work while raising the national living wage and curbing inflation. more people can secure long-term financial security.â€