Political reporters from newspapers in Chico and Sacramento, California, and Reno, Nevada, collaborated on a list of “10 issues that the presidential candidates absolutely need to discuss but probably won’t.” The “F-word” — as in food — comes in at number four. Reporter Janelle Bitker, of the Sacramento News & Review, who wrote the food item, says that the one political issue every American encounters is food.
Bitker laments that despite 78 million obese Americans, the proliferation of antibiotic use in animal production, and the specter of climate change, the White House is not doing enough to address the problems afflicting the U.S. food system. She points out that hunger affects millions across the country yet the recently passed farm bill cut funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
“In the coming years, more and more Americans are expected to go to bed hungry night after night—and Washington, D.C., is actually helping this health crisis unfold,” Bitker writes.