America is hungrier under Joe Biden with 17 million households now struggling to afford food due to inflation

• The USDA revealed in 2022 there were 17M households struggling to afford food
• Food insecurity is at the highest number since at least 2016
• Americans have lamented of ‘meatflation’ and rising food prices with inflation

Hunger is rising in the United States with 12.8 percent of Americans claiming they struggled to afford food in 2022 – a 2.6 percent increase from the year prior.

Information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released October 2023 reveals that there were 17 million households who had trouble putting food on the table in 2022.

The increase can be linked to a massive spike in inflation following the end of the pandemic and President Joe Biden is likely to take the brunt of the political backlash for the growing issue.

Americans have lamented for the last few years about the spiking price of several food products such as meat, eggs and milk. Some have even dubbed the phenomenon as ‘meatflation’ with the price of a ribeye steak doubling from $8.71 in November 2020 to $16.99 in November 2021.

Additionally, the price of one dozen eggs increased by 70 percent between February 2022 to February 2023.

According to a Gallup analysis this month, the U.S. has the highest rate of people who are under stress to afford enough food for themselves and their families compared to other G7 countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

One in four Americans, according to the analysis, say there has been at least once instance in the last 12 months when they didn’t have enough money to purchase food needed.

The USDA food insecurity figures for 2022 represent a high when compared to the same figures stemming back to the year 2016 – just before Donald Trump took office.

The year prior in 2021, the percentages of those who said they struggled to afford food was at 10.2 percent or 12.8 million households. This was the lowest percentage of the population in the last two administrations.

Pre-COVID pandemic in 2019, only 10.5 percent of Americans said they felt food insecurity through the year and the same percentage felt that way in 2020.

There was a dip in 2018 when 14.3 million or 11.1 percent of people said they struggled affording food.

Before 2022, the next highest amount of American households with an issue buying food was in 2016 with 15.6 million at 12.3 percent, followed by 2017 with 15 million at 11.8 percent.

The USDA notes that food insecurity was much worse in households with children, single parents and those led by ethnic minorities.

Biden has made some efforts to address the growing issue of food prices, including boosting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In February the administration announced a $1.7 billion package to fund initiatives aimed at ending hunger in the U.S. by 2030.