More than $8 billion pledged to Joe Biden's goal to end hunger

More than $8 billion has been pledged by private companies and nonprofit groups to help Joe Biden achieve his goal of ending hunger and reducing hunger-related illnesses. food, White House officials announced Wednesday.< /p>

Donors include food industry lobby groups, pharmaceutical companies, the world's second-largest corporation meatpacking companies, medical associations, a motion picture studio, as well as philanthropic foundations and universities.

Announcement comes as White House hosts first conference on hunger, nutrition and health in 53 years. Since then, food insecurity has improved but remains shockingly high, with one in 10 US households struggling to feed their families in 2021, while consumption of unhealthy processed foods and diet-related illnesses have increased. exponentially.

Biden will deliver a speech at Wednesday's conference, which officials say demonstrates his commitment to ending hunger and improving healthy eating and living. activity by 2030. It will bring together academics, activists, tribal leaders, health professionals and CEOs because the complexity of hunger and diet-related disease requires a "whole of society approach ", officials said.

Many of the pledges include donations or support to food banks nationwide, each month by tens of millions of people who have no cannot afford to feed their families . A compliance mechanism to ensure donors meet their commitments has yet to be created, administration officials noted. the part of our society to find strategies that address the root causes of hunger, rather than the ragtag food charity Band-Aid that has failed us for the past 40 years,” said Andy Fisher, researcher against hunger and author of Big Hunger.

Neither the financial strategy nor the national strategy released on Tuesday provide concrete policy commitments to eradicate the racial, economic and rural inequalities that are among the root causes of food poverty and processed diets that contribute to obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

The food strategy wants to reduce these life-shortening conditions by increasing access to healthy food and exercise, as new data shows more than 35% of people in 19 states and two territories are obese - more than double the number of states in 2018 - while one in 10 suffers from diabetes. paradigm shift", include:

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) will help 45,000 restaurants, including fast-food chains Subway, Burger King, Buffalo Wild Wings and Chipotle, create healthier meals for The NRA has repeatedly lobbied against federal minimum wage increases, which experts say would help fight poverty and hunger.

Tyson Foods will invest $255 million to provide food banks with "nutritious protein products" and reduce salt in their processed foods. Tyson has been fined at least $158 million since 2000 for employment, antitrust and environmental violations.

Google will launch a new search feature that should make it easier for users to check their eligibility and apply for food stamps.

Food Delivery App Instacart Will Work With USDA To Enable Customers To Use Food Stamps And Other Benefits; launch a feature that allows healthcare providers and nutritionists to create shopping lists for disease-specific diets; and new allocation technology that allows employers and healthcare providers to allocate allocations to purchase designated fresh foods.

"Engagements are a gift from the administration to the marketing departments of some of America's worst companies," said Raj Patel, researcher and author of Stuffed and Starved. “The National Restaurant Association, which is pushing to keep the minimum wage at $2.13, is using children as a human shield. T...