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More than $8 billion committed to address hunger and nutrition

The Biden administration has announced more than $8 billion in public and private sector commitments to help end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.  

President Biden outlined some of the commitments during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

“The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Heart Association are expanding research into the relationship between food health and health equity and the Food, Nutrition, and Health Investor Coalition is investing $2.5 billion into proven technologies of startup companies, pioneering new ways for reducing hunger and improving nutrition,” he says.

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients will receive discounts on SNAP purchases because of a commitment from Midwest supercenter chain Meijer.

“Meijer will receive USDA approval to offer a new incentive in its SNAP customers to buy nutritious foods,” he says. “Starting this fall, Meijer will offer its SNAP customers discounts to purchase quality foods, fruits, and vegetables.”

Other commitments include:

• The Food Industry Associaiton mobilizing its membership to donate 2 billion meals in 2023 to food banks and other anti-hunger organizations and making it easier to use SNAP and WIC benefits online in retail settings.
• Nayak Farms, a 200-acre farm in Illinois, will work to combat food-insecurity in Illinios, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa. This will include donating over 1,000,000 pounds of sweet corn to food-insecure families in those four states by 2026 and donating 50,000 pounds of green beans in 2023 and 2024.
• Tyson Foods says over the next seven years it will invest $255 million into anti-hunger charities to expand access to nutritious protein products, with a focus on rural and underserved areas.
• The University of Arkansas School of Law Journal of Food and Law Policy has committed to focusing its spring 2023 issue on hunger, nutrition, and health.
• The national nonprofit FoodCorps will mobilize $250 million to impact 500,000 students per year over the next 8 years to increase access to free and nourishing school meals and to expand hands-on nutrition education in schools through their Nourishing Futures initiative.

More than 100 organizations are represented by the commitments that will also focus on improving nutrition and promoting physical activity.

This is the first time in more than half a century, a national conference of its kind is taking place at the White House.

Biden says the first conference in 1969 helped improve the health of millions of Americans.

“It’s been over 50 years since President Nixon convened the original White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. That single conference and the laws it inspired led to transformational change that has helped millions of Americans live healthier lives for generations,” he says. “Since that time, advancements in research and medicine have taught us so much more about nutrition and health. Today, I’m convening this conference again because I believe we can use these advancements to do even more to make America a stronger and healthier nation.”  

Vilsack says the goal to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases is personal to all Americans.

“Let’s keep the momentum of today going in a new and meaningful, strong way so that we can fully meet this important moment for our children, for our community, and for our country,” he says.

The White House released its national strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030 ahead of the conference. Actions to achieve the goals are spread across five pillars: improve food access and affordability, integrate nutrition and health, empower consumers to make and have access to healthy choices, support physical activity for all, and enhance nutrition and food security research.