Hormel Foods Releases Survey in Conjunction with Ohio Hunger Summit
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) today released a survey gauging attitudes of Ohio residents toward hunger. The study, The Hormel Hunger Survey: An Ohio Perspective, was compiled in conjunction with America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network and FreestoreFoodbank, and found that Ohio residents are slightly more likely to rely on food banks and charitable organizations than the American general public.
The Ohio survey was issued as part of the first Ohio Hunger Summit, sponsored by Hormel Foods in partnership with Kroger, Procter & Gamble, America’s Second Harvest and FreestoreFoodbank. The summit, held today at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, brought together leaders of the for-profit, not-for-profit and legislative communities to discuss ways to better address the hunger issue.
As part of the Ohio Hunger Summit, Jeffrey Ettinger, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods pledged the company would make a special donation to the member food banks of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks (OASHF) in honor of the event. Ettinger said that the specific details of the exact donation are yet to be finalized because the company is working with OASHF to determine their most pressing needs. However, Ettinger said the donation would be considerable and constructed in a manner to allow Ohio-based Hormel Foods employees the opportunity to directly assist those in need throughout their home-state through special product donations and by donating their time.
Hormel Foods separately issued a national research report, and though the findings from the Ohio study largely echo the national report, it found that compared to the rest of the country, Ohio residents have a slightly higher incidence of hunger. While one in five (17 percent) Americans say they or an immediate family member has received food from a charitable organization in the past year, that number increases to nearly one in four (24 percent) for Ohio residents.
“This research has helped us identify the issues of most concern to residents of Ohio and our local partners,” said Ettinger. “We hope that these findings along with the summit we conducted today will fuel further work toward a collaborative solution to end hunger in Ohio and across America.”
Ohio residents also consider hunger in the United States to be the most important of six social issues facing the country, above illiteracy, natural disaster relief, homelessness and environmental conservation. Americans as a whole considered hunger the second most important issue, behind illiteracy.
“This research, both on the local and national levels, confirms that residents of Ohio understand the dangerous reality of hunger in America, and my hope is that it will inspire individuals and organizations to get involved,” said John Young, president and chief executive officer of FreestoreFoodbank. “If we all start at home and do a little more to end hunger in our own backyards, we can end hunger in America, one community at a time.”
Ohio residents largely believe the economy is most to blame for hunger in America. Sixty-nine percent of Ohio residents believe unemployment and the economy are the root of the problem, compared with 63 percent of Americans. In Ohio, the majority of consumers (57 percent) feel that recent U.S. economic conditions have made their current financial situation worse than it was last year. Americans are split between feeling their situation has worsened (50 percent) and stayed the same (42 percent).
Ohio residents (81 percent) agree that the prices of basic items have increased more than their household income over the last year, as do Americans at large (82 percent). However, Ohio residents are more likely than the overall population to agree that the cost of gasoline has risen compared to last year, with 64 percent compared to 50 percent on the national level. Ohio residents are also more inclined to link rising fuel costs to increased food prices. Forty-one percent of Ohio respondents blame fuel prices for the increase in food prices, compared to 31 percent of all Americans.
In addition to the economy and food and fuel prices, when prompted, Ohio residents also make the connection between increased use of ethanol as a fuel and higher food prices and hunger. Sixty-five percent of the state’s population agrees that ethanol use is increasing the cost of corn, and thus food, and that it is at least part of the reason that more Americans are going hungry. More than half of the general public in Ohio (57 percent) say governmental subsidies to make ethanol from corn will help in reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. But more than four in 10 (43 percent) oppose these subsidies because they result in higher food prices for consumers.
Similar to the national survey, the majority of Ohioans surveyed (67 percent) felt the hunger problem has increased in the last year. This compares to 64 percent of the U.S. population. Also consistent with the national numbers, 14 percent of Ohioans said they had gone to bed hungry in the past month, compared to13 percent nationally.
Ohioans and Americans at large are divided in regard to the best way to reduce hunger. Fifty-two percent of Americans and Ohio residents believe the best way to reduce hunger would be for companies and wealthy individuals to be more generous. Forty-eight percent believes the best way to reduce hunger would be for the federal government to fund programs for those who are hungry.
“There is no one solution to ending hunger in America,” said Vicki Escarra, president and chief executive officer of America’s Second Harvest. “By sharing responsibility and taking ownership of the problem, America’s Second Harvest and our partners are making great strides in the fight to end hunger. This survey exemplifies the partnership we have with Hormel Foods, and we are looking forward to using these findings to support our ongoing efforts.”
The Ohio Hunger Summit is the second hunger summit sponsored by Hormel Foods. The first was held in Minnesota in 2006, and future events are planned to further the company’s anti-hunger efforts.
The Ohio Hunger Summit, held at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, also included comments from:
“Today, we were able to ignite dialogue among those with most at stake in the problem and those with the most power to incite change,” said Ettinger. “The only way we can end hunger, in Ohio and across the country, is by cooperating with our partners and committing to the solution. Today was the first step in making this a reality, and I look forward to seeing the lasting impact of today’s event.”
The Hormel Hunger Survey: A National Perspective and The Hormel Hunger Survey: An Ohio Perspective were conducted for Hormel Foods in September 2007 by the research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland and contains a margin of error of +/- 3.45 and +/- 4.89 percent, respectively. The study was commissioned by Hormel Foods to increase the understanding of issues surrounding hunger.