As a growing number of Americans lose their jobs and food and fuel prices rise, experts predict that the number of people receiving food stamps will reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level of recipients since the food aid program began in the 1960s, The New York Times reports.

Nutrition and poverty experts say food stamps are a vital safety net that has helped end the severe malnutrition seen in the United States as recently as the 1960s. But those same experts say that food stamps do not go as far as they used to, causing additional problems for impoverished people.