Please, sir, may we have some more?

Food banks nationwide are feeling pinched

By Caroline Cummins

December 5, 2007

We’ve written about Oregon’s food-bank shortages before on Culinate. Now comes word, via the New York Times, that Oregon ain’t alone:

Food banks around the country are reporting critical shortages that have forced them to ration supplies, distribute staples usually reserved for disaster relief and in some instances close . . .

Experts attributed the shortages to an unusual combination of factors, including rising demand, a sharp drop in federal supplies of excess farm products, and tighter inventory controls that are leaving supermarkets and other retailers with less food to donate.

And this is happening around the country during the time of year when, traditionally, donations to food banks surge:

Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America’s Second Harvest, which distributes more than two billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually, said the shortages at food banks were the worst the organization had seen in 26 years.

“Suddenly it’s on everyone’s radar,” Mr. Fraser said. “Food banks are calling us and saying, ‘My God, we have to get food.’”