Survey shares insight into storm impacts on food security

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — When Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit land this fall, the storms impacted people’s access to food.

Twenty percent of households shared that they sometimes or often had inadequate food in the days directly following the storms, according to the Consumer Food Insights Report out of Purdue University.

Four to six weeks later, that number fell to 12% — on par with normal food insecurity levels throughout the country.

“Around one-third of consumers surveyed from these states say they were directly impacted by the storms, whether that be through property damage, evacuation, power loss or food-access issues,” said Joseph Balagtas, director of the Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability at Purdue.

“Most consumers (84%) who were directly impacted by the storms sheltered at home. Around 70% of those who did so stocked up on food items, primarily nonperishables like water, snacks, and canned and boxed foods that don’t require refrigeration.”

More than half of households impacted by the storms increased their food spending.

Survey respondents attributed the increase to factors such as buying extra food in case of shortages, increased food prices, or the need to replace spoiled or damaged food.

The survey also included its monthly update about food spending, preferences and other topics.

“Both the consumer estimate of food inflation over the past 12 months and expectations for food inflation over the next 12 months saw a decrease this month,” said Elijah Bryant, a survey research analyst at CFDAS and a co-author of the report.

“These results followed the November presidential election. Consumers’ inflation expectations dropped from 3% in October to 2.5% in November. The latter is the lowest this expectation estimate has been in the lifetime of the CFI survey, which began in January 2022.”

National food security remained relatively unchanged from October at around 13%.

Food insecurity in the last 30 days was 17.8% among the representative sample of the six states heavily affected by the hurricanes.

“With some states, such as North Carolina, still recovering from the storms, many households were likely still experiencing disruptions to their normal food access late October into November,” Bryant said.

For the past 36 months, American consumers have indicated that their No. 1 priority when selecting food is taste. This is closely followed by affordability.

Consumers seem to put less value on nutrition, environmental impact and social responsibility.