Map the Meal Gap
100 Million Meals are Missing for Minnesotans in Need
Presented by Feeding America
Click Here to See the Full Study
View Minnesota Data by County from Map the Meal Gap
This new study, released by Feeding America in March, 2011, quantifies the reality of hunger in Minnesota:
- One in 10 Minnesotans — 583,000 of our neighbors — miss an average of 10 meals a month.
- That’s 100 million missing meals every year.
Methodology
In collaboration with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Nielsen Company, Map the Meal Gap has refined the original methodology from the 2009 Missing Meals study by factoring new data points such as unemployment rates, ethnicities, income needed to become food-secure, and Nielsen Company data about food pricing. Feeding America researchers then estimated how many people they think are at risk for hunger in each county in Minnesota.
One meal equals 1.2 pounds of food, according to the USDA, and carries a cost of $2.49 based on the Map the Meal Gap data from The Nielsen Company. The cost of a meal varies by county. Data is available for all 87 counties in Minnesota, as well as by congressional district.
Here are highlights from the Map the Meal Gap Study:
In addition to the finding that there was an annual shortfall of 100 million meals, other study highlights include:
- More than 583,000 Minnesotans are food-insecure. This means they do not always know where that will find their next meal.
- 52 percent of Minnesotans who are food-insecure do not qualify for federal nutrition programs and must rely on charitable emergency food programs to meet their meal needs.
- Minnesota families who are food-insecure need an additional $13.74 per person, per week, to meet their food needs.
- The five Minnesota counties with the highest rates of food insecurity are Clearwater, Kanabec, Wadena, Mille Lacs and Pine.
- Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District (covering eastern Hennepin County and parts of Ramsay and Anoka Counties) and Eighth Congressional District (covering northeastern Minnesota, including Duluth) have the highest rates of food insecurity, with both districts containing approximately 96,000 Minnesotans who are food-insecure.
