The head of the largest food bank in the state says nearly 11% of Iowans do not have consistent, reliable access to nutritious food due to their household finances and the rising cost of food.

Food Bank of Iowa CEO Michelle Book says food prices are up 25% in the past four years. "There are 345,000 Iowans who are estimated to be in need food assistance," Book said during a recent appearance on "Iowa Press" on Iowa PBS, "and of that, 100,000 are children."

During the last school year, 42% of Iowa's K-12 students were served free or reduced price lunches at school through the USDA's national school lunch program. "I think the number that are eligible is probably much higher, but a lot of families either don't have the ability to fill out the forms or they're afraid to fill out the forms," Book said. "I think it's likely that 50% of our kids are food insecure across the state of Iowa and could take advantage of free and reduced breakfast and lunch if it were more available to them."

The Food Bank of Iowa -- which supplies food pantries in 55 of Iowa's 99 counties -- is spending about a million dollars a month on food. "It's a constant foot on the pedal," Book said.

And this year the Food Bank of Iowa will distribute about 230% more food than it did when Book started as the organization's CEO in 2016. She is retiring on December 31.

"In 2018, we renovated the existing facility in Des Moines. In 2018, we also acquired a failing Feeding America Food Bank in Ottumwa and brought that into our organization," Book said. "We doubled our distribution space in the Des Moines facility, went from 30,000 square foot to 60,000 square foot last fall. We've upgraded from three trucks that were falling apart in 2016 to a fleet of 20 today."

There are three other Feeding America Food Banks in Iowa -- in Davenport, Waterloo and Hiawatha -- and the Food Bank of the Heartland in Omaha also serves western Iowa counties.