For Immediate Release: 4/17/15
Contact: Celia Cole, 512.590.0659 or ccole@feedingtexas.org

Austin, TX – Feeding Texas announced today the release of the annual Map the Meal Gap study, which documents the startling rate of food insecurity experienced by Texans in every county. The study found that 17.6% percent of the overall state population – including nearly two million children – struggled to avoid hunger in 2013.

“This study demonstrates that low-income Texans are still fighting to benefit from our economic miracle,” said Celia Cole, CEO at Feeding Texas. “Hunger continues to strike hard-working families in every county in Texas. We are all affected, and therefore we all bear the responsibility to solve this problem.”

Reducing food insecurity would not just improve individual lives, it would bring a great benefit to the state of Texas in increased economic productivity and lower health and education costs, according to a separate study by The Perryman Group. The study also found that every dollar invested in food bank efforts to fight hunger returns three dollars to the state of Texas in overall benefits.

“Food insecure people are costlier to educate, as well as to care for,” said Cole. “By reducing food insecurity, we reduce these costs to the state.”

Feeding Texas is requesting $18 million from the Texas Legislature this session for Feeding with Impact, a statewide initiative of its twenty-one member food banks that combines fresh produce with nutrition education to improve dietary health.

Nationally, Texas was found to be one of the most food insecure states, with over 4.6 million individuals affected. California was the only state with a higher population of food insecure individuals. Other local findings include:

  • Texas ranked 7th in the nation among child food insecurity rates.
  • Three Texas counties appeared in the top 10 counties nationally with the highest populations of food insecure individuals: Harris, Dallas and Tarrant counties.
  • Nationally the average cost of a meal was $2.79; the Texas average was $2.45. The price of food in Texas counties varied drastically, from $1.97 in Maverick County (the lowest in the nation) to $3.09 in Chambers County.
  • A surprising number of food insecure Texans had incomes above the threshold for public nutrition assistance. Collin County was the largest county in which a majority of food insecure individuals were not income-eligible for crucial programs like SNAP, WIC and school meals.

Map the Meal Gap is based on an analysis of statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The study, commissioned by Feeding America, was supported by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, ConAgra Foods Foundation and Nielsen.

An interactive map of the study’s findings can be found here. Feeding Texas leads a unified effort for a hunger-free Texas.