Over 40 million Americans are at risk of food insecurity since the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ran out of funding Saturday due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. 

But even without the shutdown, people not having access to enough nutritious food is a countrywide problem; 13.5% of households were food insecure in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Federal cuts to food programs, stagnant wages, job losses and rising food prices are drivers. 

At a Tuesday session at APHA 2025, “Social, Cultural, and Political Factors Affecting Food and Nutrition: Food Insecurity,” researchers presented data on U.S. hunger and ways to reduce it.

In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, nearly 40% of households surveyed in spring 2024 were food insecure, found a study presented by Sejal Mistry, a researcher with the Center for Community and Public Health at Rice University. Among Black and Hispanic households, about half reported food insecurity.

These households tend to lack health insurance and face delayed medical care, Mistry said. Household diets tend to be calorie-dense with low nutritious value, leading to higher rates of hypertension, obesity and diabetes, and people are more at risk for mental health issues. 

In recent years, public health researchers have partnered with health care services to implement screenings for food insecurity and other social determinants. It is a great way to reach households that do not know food support is available.

Recently, a Rochester, New York, vision care office began screening patients for food habits. While this caused some raised eyebrows among patients, staff explained that vision health is connected to food nutrition, said Christine Coward, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, who oversees the project.

Staff were trained to tell food-insecure patients about the clinic’s free onsite healthy food pantry as well as FoodLink, a Rochester-based public health group that partnered with the clinic and offers free groceries.

“Specialty clinics can champion this effort,” Coward said. “We can all do our part by incorporating emergency food products with health clinics and providers.”

In Monterey County, California, 60% of residents are Hispanic, and most are farm workers at risk of food insecurity. The county has a 30% child poverty rate, the highest of California counties.

To aid food insecure residents, county officials used a grant to bring the Double Up Food Bucks program to county residents. The program was open to people already signed up on CalFresh, the state’s version of SNAP. Participants use their CalFresh card to purchase California-grown produce for half the normal price.

Participants can also join two local workforce development initiatives that hire people to facilitate Double Up and other healthy food projects in Monterey County. 

“It’s not just about finding people to do the work,” said Mia McKernan, community program manager at Aspire Health, which helps facilitate the county’s Double Up project. “It’s about helping them understand food insecurity and empowering them to become changemakers.”

Double Up, a nationally recognized nutrition model initiated by the Fair Food Network in 2009, now serves more than 4,000 families in Monterey County every month.

Photo by FG Latin Trade, courtesy iStockphoto.