The USDA reports have been published by both Republican and Democratic administrations for nearly 30 years<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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MONDAY, Sept. 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 For 30 years, Americans have relied on a yearly government report to understand how many families go without enough food. That report is now ending.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Saturday it will no longer publish Household Food Security<\/a> reports, which began in the 1990s and have been used by state and federal agencies to guide food assistance programs, The Washington Post <\/em>said.<\/p>\n The most recent report, released in September of last year, showed that about 18 million U.S. households experienced food insecurity at some point in 2023, up 1 million households from the year before.<\/p>\n The 2023 survey found that more than 6.8 million households faced severe food insecurity, meaning family members sometimes skipped meals, went without food for a day or lost weight due to lack of access.<\/p>\n \u201cThese redundant, costly, politicized and extraneous studies do nothing more than fearmonger,\u201d the USDA said in a statement.<\/p>\n The decision comes as the department faces criticism over cuts to school meal programs, food banks and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.<\/p>\n Many experts pushed back against ending the reports.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is also not redundant, as this survey serves as the official data source of food insecurity statistics,\u201d Kyle Ross<\/a>, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, told The Post.<\/em><\/p>\n Barbara Laraia<\/a>, chair of the Food Nutrition and Population Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley, called the USDA reports \u201cthe gold standard\u201d for measuring food insecurity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has helped us measure how the federal food programs are working,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen families get squeezed, especially when there\u2019s inflation and rising housing costs and food costs rise, they\u2019re going to pay all of their fixed expenses first \u2014 their rent, their transportation, their utilities and then they\u2019ll compromise on their food budget,\u201d Laraia continued.<\/p>\n The USDA reports have been published by both Republican and Democratic administrations for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n Critics say canceling them removes a vital tool to understand hunger in America, especially at a time when food costs and inflation remain high.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The USDA has more on food security in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n