With Thanksgiving two days away, the mind naturally turns to food. So here at the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families we are contemplating important food-related public policy issues, such as whether it’s better to put the stuffing in the bird or roast it alongside. Also: will the new legislature have the courage to address the long-unsettled issue of cranberry sauce made from a can vs. homemade?

On a less tasty (but also less fattening) note, we also wanted to draw your attention to new numbers on food insecurity in Wisconsin. A USDA report released earlier this month shows that the share of Wisconsin households with any food insecurity increased from an average of 8.9 percent over the 2004-06 period to 11.4 percent in 2007-09, a statistically significant jump. The percent of Wisconsin households with very low food security was 4.4 percent.  As with many measures of poverty, Wisconsin has seen a sharp increase in recent years but is still below the national average. Nationally, the prevalence rate for food insecurity was 13.5 percent, which was a statistically significant difference from the Wisconsin average for that period.

The portrait of food insecurity in Wisconsin might look considerably better in a newer survey because the state has made huge strides in helping people participate in FoodShare, Wisconsin’s food stamp benefit program. In October 2010, there were nearly 350,000 assistance groups in the state receiving FoodShare benefits, a 73 percent increase over the caseload in October 2008. Between January and October of this year alone, the number of assistance groups receiving benefits grew by more than 35,000.

Much of Wisconsin’s FoodShare increase over the past two years can be attributed to the national recession, and perhaps also to the federal enhancements made by the Recovery Act. However, a significant share of the credit for the increase goes to the Department of Health Services for improving enrollment processes and removing barriers to participation. The recession has created tremendous stress and insecurity for many Wisconsin families, but this is an appropriate time of year to be thankful that our state has been working hard to combat the upward trend in food insecurity.

Tamarine Cornelius