CHICAGO (Reuters) – The number of Americans receiving emergency food from the largest U.S. hunger-relief charity and its partners rose 46 percent from 2005 to 2009, according to a report released on Tuesday.

“Feeding America” said 37 million people, including 14 million children, needed emergency food aid each year, more than 10 percent of the U.S. population of 300 million.

It based the figure on 61,000 interviews and 37,000 surveys of local charitable agencies.

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