Oakland, Calif. — The U.S. Food Bank is already responding to the growing needs of families marginalized by the pandemic and is now facing new challenges — soaring food prices and supply chain issues sweeping the country.

Higher costs and limited supplies mean that some households may get smaller portions or alternatives to staple foods such as peanut butter, which costs almost twice as much as a year ago. As the holidays approach, some food banks worry that there will not be enough fillings and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“When food prices rise, those who experience food insecurity will get worse,” said Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of Feeding America, a non-profit organization responsible for coordinating more than 200 food banks across the country. work.

She said that the food bank expanded to meet the unprecedented demand brought about by the pandemic will not be able to absorb food costs that are two to three times higher than in the past forever.

Supply chain disruptions, reduced inventories, and labor shortages have all led to increased costs for charities, and tens of millions of people in the United States rely on these institutions for nutrition. The transportation cost of donated food is higher, because the transportation cost rises, and the bottleneck of factories and ports makes it difficult to obtain various goods.

Fitzgerald said that if a food bank had to replace smaller-sized canned tuna or make substitutions to increase their funds, it would be like adding “insults” to a family that is faltering due to uncertainty.

In the prohibitively expensive San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland’s Alameda County Community Food Bank spends an extra $60,000 on food every month. Michael Altfest, director of community engagement at Oakland Food Bank, said that coupled with increased demand, it now spends $1 million a month to distribute 4.5 million pounds (2 million kilograms) of food.

Before the pandemic, it spent a quarter of its money on 2.5 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) of food.

Altfest said the cost of canned green beans and peaches has risen by nearly 9%; canned tuna and frozen tilapia have risen by more than 6%; and a box of 5 pounds of frozen chicken for holiday tables has risen by 13%. The price of dry oatmeal has risen by 17%.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside a church in eastern Auckland for a weekly food giveaway event. Jason Bautista, the charity's event manager, said that Shiloh Mercy House supported about 300 families at the time, far fewer than the 1,100 families it supported at the height of the pandemic. But he still sees new people every week.

"And many people just say they can't afford food," he said. "I mean they have the money to buy certain things, but it just doesn't extend."

Families can also use the community market Shiloh opened in May. There are boxes of milk and eggs in the refrigerator, and bags of hamburgers and crusty baguettes are on the shelves.

Sonia Lujan-Perez, a 45-year-old Auckland resident, bought chicken, celery, onion bread, and potatoes—enough to supplement her Thanksgiving meal for herself, her 3-year-old daughter, and her 18-year-old son. California paid her to take care of her special needs daughter Melanie, but the monthly rent was $2,200. The cost of milk, citrus, spinach, and chicken was so high that it was not enough.

"This is great for me because I will save a lot of money," she said, adding that the holidays are difficult and Christmas toys are prepared for the children.

It is not clear to what extent other simultaneous government assistance, including the expansion of the California free school lunch program and the increase in the welfare of people in the federal supplementary nutrition assistance program, will offset the increase in food prices. An analysis by the Washington, DC Urban Institute think tank found that although most households are expected to get enough groceries for maximum benefits, there is still a 21% gap between rural and urban counties in the United States.

Bryan Nichols, vice president of sales at Transnational Foods Inc., provides food to more than 100 food banks related to Feeding America. He said that canned food from Asia-such as fruit cocktails, pears and oranges-is due to lack of container space.

Supply problems seem to be improving and prices are stabilizing, but he expects that costs will remain high after so many people withdraw from the shipping industry during the pandemic. "Before COVID, the average cost of a container from Asia was about US$4,000. Today, the price of the same container is about US$18,000," he said.

At the Southern Colorado Nursing and Shared Food Bank in Colorado Springs, CEO Lynne Telford stated that the cost of a truckload of peanut butter (40,000 pounds (18,100 kg)) soared by 80% from June 2019 to 51,000 in August Dollar. Macaroni and cheese are up 19% from a year ago, and the wholesale cost of ground beef has risen by 5% in three months. They spend more money on food to make up for the declining donations, but there are fewer and fewer choices.

The upcoming vacation worries her. On the one hand, the donation cost for purchasing a frozen turkey has increased from US$10 to US$15 per bird.

"The other thing is that we didn't get enough holiday food, such as fillings and cranberry sauce. So we had to add other kinds of food, you know, it makes us sad," Telford said. The Food Bank of China provided food to more than 200,000 people last year and distributed 25 million pounds (11.3 million kilograms) of food.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank stated that Thanksgiving Day will usher in Thanksgiving Day, and boxes of canned cranberries and boxes of mashed potatoes are stacked in the enlarged warehouse. Food Resources Director Wilken Louie ordered 8 truckloads of 5-pound frozen chicken (equivalent to more than 60,000 birds) for free, and half a turkey at cost.

For this, Martha Hasar is grateful.

"This will be an expensive Thanksgiving, and turkey will not be as expensive as it used to be," said Hasar, who bought broccoli and onions on behalf of the American Indian Council of the Bay Area. "And they didn't give the turkey. So thankfully, they sent the chicken out."

Associated Press reporters Terence Chea in Oakland and Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed to this story.

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