‘Common-sense’ Bill to Save Food for the Hungry—Instead of the Trash Faces Looming Deadline in California Legislature

By Jenny Oropeza
California State Senator

When soaring food and oil prices hit our family budgets, when more and more people do not have sufficient money to buy enough food, when a global food crisis kills children, and when a quarter of all food is wasted and ends up in landfills, contributing to global warming, leaders must act.

That’s why I came up with a plan to feed the hungry and save the planet by using resources more efficiently.

Consider the following news headlines since late July:

• Food bank operators throughout California report that demand for free meals has surged by up to 80 percent—the highest levels in memory.

• Job losses in the Southland have hit particularly hard during the recent economic downturn, spreading beyond the poor to middle- and upper-middle class families.

• At a time of record-high food prices, donations to food banks are down as much as 35 percent or more.

“This is probably the most people we've ever seen use emergency food assistance,” Darren Hoffman, communications director for the 35-year-old Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, told Los Angeles Times reporter Jennifer Oldham in a July 28 story. “We’re seeing people who were making $70,000 a year coming into a food bank for the first time. . . . They've used their retirement to pay their mortgage, and gone through their savings.”

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? In addition to obvious economic stress, what may not be evident is that at least six million tons of food is discarded annually in California. The sad truth: Skyrocketing food prices, bad harvests and unfavorable weather adds up to a global food crisis. An astounding 800 million children and adults worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition—with millions more likely to join the list unless something is done soon.

The need for action is most dire in underdeveloped countries, but people in wealthy nations are also suffering. California is not an exception, despite being the world’s eighth-largest economy: According to the UCLA Center for Health and Policy Research, the Golden State has more than 2.9 million residents who lack sufficient resources to adequately put food on the table.

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