Around 44 per cent of underprivileged Hongkongers are forced to go hungry to save money, an NGO has said. Photo: Sam TsangOver 40 per cent of underprivileged Hongkongers go hungry to save money, according to a poll by an NGO. The survey also disclosed that 77 per cent of respondents focus on price over nutritional value when they buy food.
Food Grace also found that close to half of surveyed residents were not getting enough nutrients in their daily diet, with high food prices cited as the main hurdle.
The food recycling group shared the results of its poll yesterday, which surveyed 509 residents in July and included those living on government welfare allowances, low-income households and people with disabilities in Kwai Tsing and Sham Shui Po.
The NGO urged the city to offer more food assistance to those in need, to strengthen the supply and to keep prices stable.
“The survey has revealed the severity of food woes among families,” Angela Lo Kok-shan, the organisation’s project manager, said.
The results showed 44 per cent of respondents had gone hungry to save money, while 32.8 per cent of those interviewed had cut down the number of meals they ate over the previous six months.
Nearly 40 per cent of respondents were worried about insufficient food supplies at home, according to the poll.
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The NGO also noted that 46.2 per cent of interviewees were not getting enough nutrients from their daily meals, with more than 40 per cent of all respondents concerned about high food prices.
Lo noted that the absence of cooking facilities in substandard living spaces such as subdivided and rooftop flats posed a major obstacle to ensuring residents enjoyed better food variety and nutrient intake.
The survey found that 60 per cent of respondents had limited knowledge of food security, with nearly half of those surveyed mistaking the concept for food safety.
“Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life,” Lo said.
The survey found 77 per cent of respondents mainly focused on prices when choosing food, while about 60 per cent also considered nutritional value and 32 per cent looked at the sustainability and environmental impact of items.
“Economic factors play a dominant role in low-income residents’ food choices,” Lo said.
Many residents failed to make use of food labels when making dietary decisions, with more than 36 per cent paying no attention to those with nutrition information and health guidelines.
The interviewees also urged authorities to provide more support to the underprivileged, as more than 46 per cent appealed for government help to source basic nutritious food.
Some respondents also called for authorities to enhance supplies, ensure stable prices and subsidise food recycling services.
The NGO encouraged the government to provide food assistance to low-income residents and step up education about the importance of a nutritious diet.
Other proposals included a review of items offered at subsidised food banks to ensure they met the needs of service users, and subsidies for NGOs that recycled food to help reduce waste and the environmental impact.
Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the NGO Society for Community Organisation, said nearly half of poor residents the group served faced difficulties in coping with their daily food expenditure.
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“Some had to cut down their meals to only two or even one a day,” she said, adding that some had also turned to cheaper items that were about to expire or lived on free food handed out by NGOs.
“The food woes hit the worst during the coronavirus pandemic because of the poor economic situation, but the phenomenon has stayed,” she said.
Sze noted some children from poor households were thin and pale and lacked energy as the insufficient food and nutrition intake had impaired their growth.
She said her organisation handed out free food such as rice and oil, supermarket coupons and vouchers for free meals at certain restaurants to about 3,000 households a month.
But Sze said more support should be offered. She called for subsidised food banks to cover more residents and for longer periods and suggested the provision of free nutritious breakfasts for pupils from poor families.
The Social Welfare Department commissions non-governmental organisations to operate food assistance service teams to help individuals and families in need with the provision of basic food assistance normally for a period not exceeding eight weeks.