Missouri needs to improve its food security, multiple speakers said at Saturday’s Building Blocks for Missouri’s Success annual conference.
This year’s conference focused on the importance of food security and that nothing is more basic than food, said Nicole McKoy, president of the board of directors at Empower Missouri.
The rate of food insecurity in Missouri is 12%, while the U.S. average is 11.7%, said Bill McKelvey, project coordinator at MU’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security.
Food insecurity is when there are reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service website.
“We certainly know that children who receive good nutrition before birth and in their early years have many advantages around their physical and mental development,” McKoy said. “Adequate food is equally important for working adults, people working with chronic health conditions and to our elders.”
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