84% of Clients Surveyed Say Cost Is the Biggest Barrier in Accessing Fresh Produce

Statistics

• 84% of clients surveyed say cost is the biggest barrier in accessing fresh produce.
• 14 billion pounds of fresh produce goes unused each year in the U.S.
• Fresher, healthier food options help in the prevention and management of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and obesity.
• 94% of our Produce market and Mobile Market clients increased the amount of fruits and vegetables they ate by more than 2.5 cups per day.
• Today more than half (54%) of the food distributed by Mid-Ohio Foodbank is fresh—including fruits & vegetables, meats, dairy and breads.
• 21 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables made it from farm to fork last year through Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

Quotes

“We know that many low-income populations don’t have adequate access to food. We also know that healthy foods are critical for maintaining health, both for preventing chronic disease—like obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases—but also once you have those diseases, for treating them.”

– Hillary Seligman, MD MAS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, UC San Francisco

“There are thousands of folks in our community who can get better control of their medical conditions if they have access to the right foods to help them. Food is health for many, many people with chronic diseases.”

– Lisa Meddock, Director of Benefits and Wellness, OhioHealth

“People in food insecure households are much less likely to be able to take their medications regularly. There are a number of coping strategies that people use. They might take half a pill instead of a whole pill. They might take their pills for three weeks of the month, but then not be able to afford their refills for another week. Some people feel strongly that they need to take medications, but to do that they have to stop affording food.”

– Hillary Seligman

“Food is health. Because of the shift in the food that we’re now distributing to moving more than half of the 50 million+ pounds to fresh food we have an opportunity to have a huge impact on the folks we serve.”

– Matt Habash, President & CEO, Mid-Ohio Foodbank

“A wonderful opportunity to help our neighbors who are food insecure is to donate to Operation Feed, where 100% of your donation will provide access to fresh, healthy, good nutritious food for our community”

– Lisa Meddock