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Report says hunger on the rise in Missouri

What do food labels really say about what's inside? (Photo by Boris Mann (bmann)/Flickr.com)
Photo by Boris Mann (bmann)
/
Flickr.com
What do food labels really say about what's inside? (Photo by Boris Mann (bmann)/Flickr.com)

A report from the University of Missouri says the number of people worrying about not having enough 

  food is on the rise.

The university's latest Missouri Hunger Atlas says an average of 16 percent of Missouri households experienced "food insecurity" from 2009 through 2011, meaning they were concerned about not having enough food.

That's up from an average of 8.6 percent from 1999 to 2001.

Sandy Rikoon directs the university's Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security in Columbia. He says deeper food insecurity rates in Missouri's inner cities and rural areas are comparable to national trends.

A decade ago, 2.3 percent of Missouri's population was classified as "food insecure with hunger." The new report says that figure has tripled to 6.7 percent.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.