Reagan Honors Produce Market Hunger Crusade

One of the real success stories from among Southern California’s anti-hunger efforts is taking place in a far corner of the downtown Los Angeles produce market.

There the Charitable Distribution Facility recovers unsaleable, but still edible, fruit and vegetables from the mart’s wholesale vendors. Then, in turn, the accumulated bounty is given to outlets feeding the needy and homeless.

The surprising effectiveness of the work under way was honored recently when the program’s founder--Mickey Weiss--received a commendation from President Reagan for “leadership” and “private sector initiative.”

Weiss, a retired produce executive, received the citation only 18 months after the operation’s inception. Though short-lived, the facility has still managed to generate 10 million pounds of produce for neighborhood charities. According to one estimate, the tonnage is valued at $5.4 million.

Such a plan solves a dilemma for virtually all the city’s produce companies, who often find themselves with field shipments that are blemished, undersized or discolored. However, it is just this type of merchandise that is readily accepted at the Charitable Distribution Facility, which operates under a grant from the Weiss Family Foundation.

The genius of the program--the first of its kind in the nation--is a simple premise. Five days a week, wholesalers’ bring their contributions to a convenient, on-site receiving dock. The crates of fruit or vegetables are inspected by county officials for wholesomeness and then distributed to more than 113 certified charities.

And if good will is not enough to motivate the vendors into participating, then there is also the fact that the companies receive a tax credit for diverting the food to the facility rather than dumping it in the terminal’s trash bins.

Whatever the reason, the merchants are responding and weekly donation rates are 200% higher than in the first few months of the program.

“The average was in the neighborhood of 20 tons per week when we started,” said Frank Traxler, an inspector for the Los Angeles County agriculture commissioner’s office. “But (the last week of October) was our highest to date when we received 84.3 tons. Our average, though, is about 60 tons a week.”

The Charitable Distribution Facility’s increasing success in providing fresh produce to the needy has offset, to some degree, a significant drop-off in donations to other area food banks that are also involved in feeding efforts for the poor.

In fact, the program has made such an impact in the Los Angeles area that several other cities are also considering implementing similar programs at their wholesale produce terminals.

Third World Progress--There is some promising news, as well, on the international hunger front, according to a nonprofit group that monitors malnutrition, famine and other food crises around the world.

Much progress, in fact, has been made in Ethiopia, according to Ted Howard, communications manager for the New York-based Hunger Project.

“A year ago, there was a widely shared sense among people who conduct relief operations that there could be a famine in Ethiopia on the magnitude of 1984 and 1985 with crowded refugee camps and people dying,” Howard said. “That didn’t happen because of an extraordinary effort that can be called the real success of the year.”

The substantially different outcome was made possible because numerous anti-hunger groups anticipated a famine for 1988 and took steps to address the problem before it occurred, said Howard, whose group claims an international membership of 5.7 million.

“We worked together to stop starvation and thousands upon thousands did not die. It was a matter of averting a famine rather than fighting the fire once it was lit,” he said.

Part of the effort also involved persuading Ethiopian farmers to stay on their land and continuing working rather than flee the poor weather conditions. This type of educational campaign, and a higher rainfall, were responsible for a bumper food crop this past growing season.

“Its not just Ethiopia. The whole world is more sophisticated in fighting hunger,” he said.

As proof, Howard cites action taken by 28 African nations, each of which have pledged 25% of the their annual budgets to agriculture and food production. In the past, much of this money went to funding industrial development, often-times ill-suited to a particular country’s more rural needs.

“This demonstrates the kind of seriousness with which the African leaders are approaching their problems,” he said. “There is a real movement of policy reform and support of the agricultural sector that was so desperately needed.”

One persistent problem, though, is a plague of locusts that has destroyed crops and plant life throughout an extensive belt of sub-Saharan Africa. The infestation--believed to be the worst in 30 years--has seriously affected food production, Howard said. Whether the plague will trigger more starvation is not yet known.

Malnutrition’s Danger--When they do arise, present day hunger problems take many different shapes and forms--from the subtle to the severe. A recent report documented the different stages of suffering that occur as a result of food deprivation.

The first signs of hunger become noticeable as people’s health gradually deteriorates to the point where they no longer can lead an active life, the International Food Policy Research Institute reports.

But the problem starts much earlier in the form of malnutrition, or a when a diet becomes deficient in important minerals and vitamins. Such a condition eventually inhibits children’s ability to learn or an adult’s capacity to work, according to an account of the institute’s research in the World Development Forum newsletter.

Iron, iodine and Vitamin A are singled out as often lacking in the diets of those people living in poverty. A deficiency of any of these three compounds, for instance, can cause serious illness.

Insufficient amounts of dietary iodine can cause crippling and mental retardation. A similar lack of Vitamin A--particularly in a child’s diet--can lead to blindness. And iron is needed to maintain body energy.

Although the institute’s focus was on the dietary problems in the developing world, yet another study found somewhat similar nutritional deficiencies in the United States.

A recently released federal report on low-income women and children found both groups’s diets to be lacking in important nutrients, according to Nutrition Week.

“Among the women surveyed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, intakes considerably below the (recommended daily allowances) were reported for vitamins E and B6, folacin, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc,” according to the newsletter. “Children’s intakes of iron and zinc were 24% and 27% below (recommended amounts).”

The report, a survey of 1985 food intake statistics, did not theorize about the physical problems, if any, associated with these nutritional deficiencies.