USC researchers track food insecurity post-pandemic

What happened to Los Angeles’ food insecurity crisis during and after the peak of the coronavirus pandemic? To answer this question, Kayla de la Haye, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, led a team of researchers to collaborate with the Los Angeles County Food Equity Roundtable and faculty members from The City University of New York to construct a comprehensive data portal that monitors food and nutrition access and insecurity.

The project’s research in July found that 24.3% of L.A. County households were food insecure in the past year. Individuals from low-income households and those identifying as Latinx experienced the worst food insecurity, the study found. 

Food insecurity refers to a temporary or long-term lack of consistent access to sufficient food for every person in a household to live a healthy life. It is different from hunger — food insecurity in the long run results in higher risks for cardiovascular disease and higher overall death rates.

The three-year project utilized data gathered from survey panels, big data, government sources and community partners to build a conceptual model of food insecurity within the L.A. County food system. 

“Because the things that impact food and nutrition security are so complicated, to understand and monitor them, we can’t just rely on one type of survey data,” de la Haye said. 

One significant piece of information that government sources provide is the number of L.A. residents enrolled in the supplemental nutrition assistance program, CalFresh, which issues monthly payments as electronic benefit cards to qualified low-income households to purchase food. 

Community partners generate data to identify the food outlets in L.A. County, which informs people about the type of food and the operating status of the food sources. The project analyzes the information to gather the number of food outlets closed during the pandemic and understand how their closures impacted food access. 

With all of the data gathered from different platforms, the research team now has to decide on the kind of information to incorporate into the quantitative analysis process. In particular, the results of survey panels may lead to the selection of certain data sets that represent the ongoing situation. 

“We will also evaluate whether the information it provides really matters [to] people … and how we can make best use of the information we get of what people said,” said Mengya Xu, a project researcher and graduate student studying population, health and place.

The information is then coded and displayed online to share with government, community and private partners in a timely manner to address food insecurity issues in L.A. 

When the pandemic first hit and triggered a widespread food insecurity crisis, a previous partnership between the researchers and the L.A. County Emergency Food Security Branch helped identify populations at risk for food insecurity. 

The team’s research shows that about 1.2 million L.A. County households experienced food insecurity between April and December of 2020. 

However, as the research went on, the team realized they lacked integrated information about the different aspects of the food system, such as the accessibility to various food outlets and food assistance. This led them to further investigate ways to collect and analyze the data. 

“There is a lack of that data and a lack of monitoring. One good example of this is, when the pandemic hit, the latest statistics we had on food insecurity were from 2018,” de la Haye said. 

Building on previous work and with a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the ongoing project aims to connect policymakers and organizations with accurate information to help residents have access to healthy food.

Jose Scott, a graduate student studying public policy and management who had been conducting interviews with residents, said a big takeaway from the conversations is how creative the people are in terms of utilizing limited food sources to survive food insecurity. 

“Some people found themselves, for example, trying recipes they have never tried before,” Scott said. “There was a lot of TikToking and trying new recipes on the internet.” 

The rate of L.A. households experiencing food insecurity dropped following the height of the pandemic. However, a recent research brief shows a significant increase in the rate, up to 24.3% as of July 2022 from 16.6% in 2021. 

De la Haye said that some factors have worsened the food insecurity crisis, one of being the rising inflation rate across the country. As food prices go up, the burden on low-income households to have enough healthy food becomes heavier. 

Another factor is the decrease in the number of food assistance programs. Once the pandemic began to wane, so too did government aid, which led to a tight budget for many families. 

“This issue of poor food access and food and nutrition insecurity impacts a lot of people in L.A. County, … but it does not impact everyone equally,” de la Haye said. “It really is a big food justice issue.” 

A previous version of this article stated that Kaya de la Haye is an assistant professor of population and public health sciences. De la Haye is an associate professor of population and public health sciences. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.