Food Insecurity

Despite a federal lawsuit, callers to the state hotline handling Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program waited on hold an average of an hour and a half in August before being connected to agents.

The Supplemental Nutrition Education Program (SNAP-Ed) is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and helps SNAP recipients learn how to eat healthy food on a budget. Its employees complain of wages so low that they themselves qualify for SNAP.

Native American tribes and communities are creating formal programs that focus on their traditional foods to not only combat systemic food insecurity, but also connect people to their culture.

City Foundry’s food hall is the latest to work with St. Louis-based food technology startup GiftAMeal to address hunger in the region. Customers who visit any of the City Foundry’s food concepts can download the free GiftAMeal mobile app, take a photo of their food and upload it. The startup donates money to Operation Food Search for every photo uploaded.

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Missouri Department of Social Services alleges that its unresponsive call line and burdensome application process for food assistance violates federal law and residents' constitutional rights.

New data from the USDA shows rural areas are losing their grocery, specialty food and convenience stores and gaining some dollar stores and superstores.

Food Outreach provides nutritious meals to people living with cancer or HIV. Now the nonprofit is piloting a project to help veterans with uncontrolled diabetes.

Last year, COVID-19 pushed the persistent problem of healthy food access toward crisis levels. The number of meals provided by The St. Louis Area Foodbank, which serves 14 Missouri counties and 12 in Illinois, increased by 53% to nearly 53 million between June 2019 and June 2021, data from the nonprofit show.

A new report from the USDA shows benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, have a bigger impact on rural economies.

MARSH Grocery Cooperative will sell locally grown produce and other organic food on a sliding scale, based on what each customer can afford.