This Brand Is Out to Tackle Hunger and Racial Disparities in U.S. Agriculture Jan 19, 2021 Long before the novel coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. was dealing with a pandemic of systemic racism, as TriplePundit has long reported. By expanding the market for Black farmers, the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund, launched by the Unilever condiment brand sharing the same name, aims to tackle aspects of both pandemics: the COVID-related hunger crisis and the systemic bias against Black Americans working in agriculture. A hunger crisis that won't go away The growing hunger crisis in the U.S. (reflecting a global hunger crisis) has been depressingly prominent in the headlines since the pandemic began last March — and it shows no signs of abating. More Americans went hungry in November (nearly 26 million, or 1 in 8 U.S. residents) than at any point during the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. As a result, food banks have seen a 70 percent increase in demand since the pandemic began.