WASHINGTON — Some 17.4 million US households struggled to get enough food to eat last year because money was tight, the US Department of Agriculture said Monday.
In more than a third of those households -- around one in eight US homes -- at least one person did not get enough to eat at some time during the year and normal eating patterns were disrupted.
Hardest hit by hunger were urban households with children headed by single parents and African American and Hispanic households, the USDA said in a report.
While the number of hungry people was deemed too high for the affluent United States, the report found that it had held steady from the previous year, thanks in large part to government-funded food assistance programs.
The number of people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- formerly called food stamps -- rose by about 5.3 million people a month in 2009 compared to the previous year, the report said.
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