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Food

In shortfall ~26% shortfall

11% shortfall

in household food security

41% shortfall

in adults who eat at least one serving of vegetables per day

Framing

Globally, it is estimated that 2.3 billion people (28% of total population) are facing moderate to severe food insecurity, and 2.8 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet. In the United States, 12.2% of households are experiencing food insecurity, and poor nutrition is a concern for much of the country. In California, food insecurity is hovering just below the national average. Paralleling national trends, food insecurity in the state has been increasing since 2019, likely due to the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Food intersects with numerous socio-ecological factors, which are increasingly integrated in transdisciplinary research on planetary health and human wellbeing. However, for this assessment, we keep a narrow focus on indicators related to food access and basic nutrition.

Policy spotlight

* The School Meals for All Program of 2022 (Education Code 49501.5 and 49564.3) addresses food insecurity while promoting better health and academic outcomes by ensuring that every student has access to nutritious meals during the school day. * California Senate Bill 907 in 2022 established the Local, Equitable Access to Food (LEAF) Program to expand the use of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems at certified farmers' markets. This initiative increases availability of fresh, locally grown produce to low-income communities, improving food access and supporting local farmers.

Justice lens

* Racial and ethnic disparities in food insecurity have been a persistent trend across the United States for decades, with a clear gap between people of color and white population groups. * In California, according to 2022 CDPH data, African American, Latino, Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and multiracial households experience higher rates of food insecurity than White and Asian ethnic groups. * Low-income families in California (less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line) also experienced much higher rates of food insecurity: 41.5% in comparison to the state average of 11%.

Source & citation

Content on this page draws from The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report, used under CC-BY 4.0.

Aritza, A. and Kraus-Polk, J. et al. (2025). The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17540639