The state of hunger in Massachusetts
When we first published this blog back in 2024, we sought to bring together various data sets on hunger in Massachusetts. We were seeing new report after new report measuring food insecurity in slightly different ways and across varying regions. Any way the data was sliced, each report confirmed what we already knew: Food insecurity is a big problem in Massachusetts.
That remains true today, but after a year of major federal shifts in food policy affecting SNAP and emergency food funding, the landscape looks different for our neighbors and for programs that serve them.
Federal Food Policy Continues to Weaken the Emergency Food System
Federal food policy decisions from 2025 are leaving individuals and families with less dollars to purchase food for themselves and local food programs with less funds to provide those individuals and families with the fresh, healthy food they need. (Many of those organizations have been requesting food deliveries from Spoonfuls to help meet the need in their communities.)
While our Breaking Through the Noise blog gives more detailed information, here’s an overview of just some of the most consequential decisions:
Spring 2025: USDA slashed funding for emergency food resources.
This left schools and food banks with less dollars to purchase food from local farms. It also left those farms with less income.
Summer 2025: The “Big” bill is passed, including historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s best anti-hunger tool. The changes have been phasing in as follows:
- July 2025: Immediate SNAP changes go into effect including expanded work reporting requirements, restricted SNAP eligibility for immigrants, and more. While many saw their benefits slashed, other SNAP users were disqualified altogether.
- October 2025: Funding for SNAP-ED is eliminated. SNAP-Ed provided information and resources around healthy food choices and ways to maximize SNAP dollars. Cuts to programs like this one position people to be less healthy (and potentially more hungry) over time.
- October 2026: Portion of SNAP administration costs will shift to states. States will be responsible for a higher percentage of the costs associated with administering SNAP benefits. It’s predicted that Massachusetts will need to find an additional $50 – 60 million in its budget to cover the increase.
- October 2027: Portion of SNAP benefits costs will shift to states. States will also have to cover between 5 – 15% of SNAP benefits costs, which previously, had been covered fully by the federal government. For Massachusetts, that could mean up to $396 million annually, an amount our state can’t afford. As a result, SNAP users may not receive their full benefits, driving more people to our emergency food system and more emergency food programs to organizations like Spoonfuls for help sourcing food for their clients.
Fall 2025: Government shutdown causes SNAP benefits to lapse.
The 43-day federal government shutdown left SNAP users without the resources they needed to purchase food for themselves and their families. Hitting just ahead of the holidays, the ripple effects of the SNAP lapse are expected to linger into 2026.
Immigration and Food Insecurity
The federal government has proposed changes to “Public Charge,” a rule that gives government authority to deny immigration claims for anyone it deems could become reliant on public benefits, like SNAP. Proposed changes would give even broader latitude to Department of Homeland Security officers to determine which people are most at risk without clear guardrails. This is leading to fear and confusion among immigrant families, including documented immigrants, who are foregoing public benefits out of concern their applications could impact their immigration status. As of this blog’s publication, we’re waiting to hear if the government chooses to modify their proposal after reading public comments, Spoonfuls’ among them.
We also know the fear of deportation is causing many neighbors (including legally present immigrants and American citizens) to be hungry at home – skipping meals and relying on cheaper, less healthy food. Read more from our Founder & CEO, Ashley Stanley, in her letter “Fear, food, and what we’re facing.”
More Need, Less Accountability: Household Food Security Report
Last year, the Trump administration suspended the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Household Food Security Report, which served as the single most comprehensive measure of the scope of hunger in the United States. While we’re glad the 2024 report was ultimately published and some legislators are trying to protect the report, without the promise of future Household Food Security Reports, we’ll have a hard time measuring progress on food security as a country.
Spoonfuls’ has instead been leaning into the Greater Boston Food Bank’s report, which found two in five households across Massachusetts are experiencing food insecurity. It’s a valuable tool that provides an important local perspective on food insecurity in Massachusetts, but entities in different states and regions each calculate food insecurity slightly differently, so we aren’t as easily able to compare what’s happening in Massachusetts with other states.
In addition to the Greater Boston Food Bank report, there are a variety of regional reports in Massachusetts that measure rates of food insecurity, as well as localized causes and solutions. Here are a few samples of reports in regions where Spoonfuls’ operates:
- Merrimack Valley: The Merrimack Valley Food Resiliency Partnership mapped resource gaps in their region in 2023.
- MetroWest: The MetroWest Foundation Community Health Assessment revealed that 32% of residents experienced some degree of food insecurity in 2023. It also noted that the region has a low SNAP enrollment rate, which if addressed, would improve food access in the region.
- Southcoast: In 2021, the Southcoast Food Policy Council released their Food System Assessment of Southeastern Massachusetts, which exams how their local food system can better support people experiencing food insecurity, among other things.
- Worcester County: The Worcester Community Food Assessment conducted by the Worcester County Food Bank’s Center for Food Equity showed that rates of food insecurity have doubled there over the last four years. The Food Bank itself reports a 32% increase in demand for food over the past year alone, largely driven by high food prices and the expiration of additional pandemic-era SNAP benefits.
- Pioneer Valley: This Food is Medicine study by the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation and Community Servings identified Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, Agawam, and West Springfield as priority towns for Food is Medicine interventions, which typically include increasing access to fresh, healthy food, in 2019.
Where Spoonfuls & Food Recovery Comes in
While the emergency food system has been weakened, we know here at Spoonfuls that there’s still plenty of food to go around.
In 2025, we set an organizational record when we recovered 6.2 million pounds of good food in a single year, and we expect to recover even more in 2026. We know food continues to be the number one material in Massachusetts’ waste stream and that there is opportunity to intercept even more of that food while it’s still good to eat, ensuring it reaches people who can enjoy it.
We’re the safety net to the safety net. In a crisis or not, we distribute the food we recover to over 250 community-based organizations, including food pantries, meal programs, and more, each week, helping to feed our neighbors who need food now.
Sustaining and Growing Food Recovery: Ways to Take Action
Stay in touch. Join our email list for the latest information about Spoonfuls and the issues at the heart of our work.Spoonfuls enables our team to recover and distribute a pound of fresh, wholesome food.
Give. Your gifts support our food recovery operations across Massachusetts. Every $1 you give to Spoonfuls enables our team to recover and distribute a pound of fresh, wholesome food.
Advocate. Push for measures at the state and federal levels that build support for food recovery. Need a starting point? Join us at our next virtual Advocacy Hour, a lunchtime conversation where we discuss movement on Spoonfuls’ Advocacy Hours and opportunities to support.
Share. Spread the word about issues like wasted food and hunger. You might inspire others to take interest in the issues, too. One easy way to do it: Reshare a Spoonfuls’ social post!
