"Healthy nutrition with Hartz 4 is not possible": Expert warns of aggravation of the situation

Created: 08/18/2022, 16:10

By: Tanja Koch

The rapidly rising prices in almost all areas of life are currently causing people in Germany greater concern than anything else.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa

Not only gas and electricity, but also groceries have become more expensive due to the Ukraine war.

What does this mean for Hartz 4 recipients?

Frankfurt am Main – Food prices rose by 14.8 percent in July compared to the same month last year.

In June and May, the inflation rate was 12.7 and 11.1 percent, respectively.

"People with little money are up to five times more affected by price increases than normal earners," said Eva-Maria Thalmeier from the State Association for Health.

"They have no reserves to cushion emergencies." In the past, people in poverty often ate spaghetti with tomato sauce.

With price increases of 154 percent for spaghetti and 57 percent for canned tomatoes, even that is at risk.

The Hartz IV portion, which is intended for nutrition, only increased from 154.78 to 155.82 euros per month from 2021 to 2022.

This is shown by information from the state center for political education in Baden-Württemberg.

According to the standard rate for Hartz 4, the amount for children and young people as well as people in couple households is even lower,

reports

Hartz 4 and healthy nutrition: Expert warns of "aggravation of the situation"

Is it possible to eat, even eat healthily, against the background of the price increases triggered by the Ukraine war and the sanctions against Russia?

"Even in the past, findings from the German Society for Nutrition have shown that healthy nutrition with Hartz 4 is not possible," says Sabine Pfeiffer, Professor of Sociology at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in an interview with

.

In view of the blatant price development, "we definitely have an aggravation of the situation," she warns.

Even the normal price increase over the years had not been adequately factored into Hartz 4.

The result: people who receive Hartz 4 have to do without fresh vegetables and the like.

“We know from nutritional studies in Great Britain – where these are often much more dedicated than here – that reaching for highly processed food is always cheaper,” the expert knows.

This has serious sociological consequences.

"It is unacceptable that we distribute in such a way that children come to school poorly fed, are therefore less able to concentrate and then have an even worse start to life than they already have."

Hartz 4 and malnutrition - "For many years, the phenomenon only existed in developing countries"

Malnutrition during pregnancy and in early childhood also has long-term effects - even in the form of damage that cannot be reversed.

“For many years, this phenomenon only existed in developing countries.

But in the meantime it has also arrived in our affluent societies,” says the sociology professor.

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"If the legislature can't come up with anything serious here, because a one-off payment isn't enough, the problem will only get worse.

For years, however, politicians have increasingly relied on the fact that the food banks will fix it," she criticizes.

Hartz 4 recipients: Many are faced with the choice of starving or freezing

And these are gradually reaching their limits.

The food banks in Hesse, for example, are seeing a sharp rise in demand for donated food.

By July, 35 percent more customers were recorded this year, said Katja Bernhard from the National Association of Food Banks.

At the same time, 30 percent less food was passed on to the 58 food banks in the country - partly because supermarkets are now calculating more precisely, so that less is left over.

At times, local admission stops were necessary for new customers.

The increase in demand is due, among other things, to refugees from Ukraine.

In view of the price increases, it is to be expected that more people will report in the coming months.

In many cases, the question of healthy nutrition no longer arises.

With soaring energy costs, inflation and low wages, the National Poverty Conference warns, many now have a very different choice: starve or freeze.

(tk with epd/dpa)