Food insecurity above state average

ALMOST ten per cent of Bendigo’s population does not have access to a secure supply of affordable and nutritious food, according to the City of Greater Bendigo.

The statistic is contained in a submission to a Victorian Upper House inquiry into food security, which is scheduled to report its findings in mid-November.

The submission was prepared by council officers and has not been endorsed by councillors.

The inquiry, which attracted more than 175 submissions, is probing the impact of food insecurity on physical and mental health, poverty and hardship, and how to make food cheaper and access easier.

Rates of food insecurity in Greater Bendigo have been consistently higher than the state average, according to the city, with a 2019 Active Living Census finding that 9.6 per cent of the population was food insecure, almost double the Victorian average at the time.

“One in 10 households did not have enough food to eat and in some areas this increased to one in five,” the submission said.

“For example, over 15 per cent of households in the areas of Long Gully, West Bendigo, Ironbark, North Bendigo, California Gully, Eaglehawk, Eaglehawk North, Sailors North, White Hills and Jackass Flat had run out of food in the 12 months before data collection.”

It said the ALC had also found that only half the region’s adult residents consumed the recommended two servings of a fruit a day and only one in eight were eating the recommended five or more daily servings of vegetables. “For children and young people (3 to 17 years), 14 per cent were meeting the recommended daily intake guidelines for vegetables and 53 per cent were meeting those for fruit.”

The document said it was difficult to pinpoint a precise position in regard to food security because only severe cases were tracked.

“Most recent findings from the 2021 Victorian Population Health Survey showed that 10.6 per cent of people in Greater Bendigo had run out of food and could not afford to buy more in the previous 12 months,” it said.

It said organisations providing food relief were experiencing increased demand, with Bendigo Foodshare recording an increase of between 40 and 60 per cent in the number of people seeking help from its partners last year compared to 2022.

Among its recommendations, the submission called on the government to develop and implement regular and comprehensive monitoring of food security, develop a Victorian food system plan and appoint a minister to deal specifically with the issue.