This means that they had to limit the quality and/or quantity of their food supply, according to a survey of around 2,000 people (aged 16 and over), which will be presented on Thursday at a symposium organized by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) in Vienna .
Around 420,000 people even fall into the severe food poverty category. They sometimes had to skip meals involuntarily or had nothing to eat for a whole day.
Worry that children don’t have enough to eat
Almost 13 percent of those surveyed with minors in the household were worried in the past twelve months that their children did not have enough to eat. Around a fifth said that they were unable to dine with friends, acquaintances, relatives or restaurants or to invite others to eat.
According to the survey, younger people, the sick, people with a low level of education or the unemployed are particularly affected. Those affected would like to pay more attention to healthy food and quality when shopping. The biggest hurdles are a lack of financial resources, a lack of time and a lack of affordable options.
Reduction of VAT on fruit and vegetables
According to experts, measures such as free communal catering, reducing VAT on fruit, vegetables and legumes and promoting democratic supermarkets in combination with behavioral measures such as increasing nutritional literacy would be key.
