As an epidemic of hunger spreads to working class Americans, sweeping reforms of food stamp programs and welfare and the expansion of school meal outlays are badly needed, according to a report released yesterday by the School of Public Health.

Entitled "Hunger Reaches Blue Collar America," the report charged that the current economic recovery is "having little impact on the nation's 20 million hungry citizens," a virtually unprecedented economic scenario.

Despite an improvement in the overall economy, hunger has been growing in the U.S. in the last five years, according to the study. The economic expansion has affected only those already well off, often leaving minorities and single women to fend for themselves, said the study, which was written by members of the Physician Task Force on Hunger in America (PTFHA).

Twenty-five percent of Americans now "live in poverty some time during the year," and in 1986, "the income gap between rich and poor families [reached] its widest point in four decades," the study said.

Poverty and hunger no longer affect only the unemployed but also attack many full-time minimum wage earners, who make on average $6968 per year--$2000 under the poverty level, according to the report which is the fourth in a series of PTFHA reports.

The report describes specific cases of hunger in America, such as a malnourished baby surviving on rice and beans in Houston and a Minnesota man who was "unable to provide a meal at his daughter's wedding."

The study suggested a 23-point plan to solve the nation's hunger problem, including expanding relief groups and raising the minimum wage to meet inflated consumer prices. The report also recommended correlating the minimum wage to cost-of-living increases in the future, as well as extending unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed.

"With the economy in a precarious situation, all programs are going to be scrutinized carefully," said Judy A. Depontbriand, field director of the PTFHA. Depontbriand said, "It is not at all unrealistic to push for restored funding for hunger programs [because] public programs that feed people are cost effective."

The study's authors, who are all physicians, took a dual approach to analyzing domestic hunger, Depontbriand said. Researchers visited poverty-stricken areas and reviewed statistical information before writing their report.

Depontbriand said that physicians are uniquely qualified to study hunger because they "are trained to be careful listeners" and are skilled at conducting field interviews. She added that doctors are also qualified to study the hunger crisis because of the prevalent view that hunger is a public health problem."

The PTFHA field director emphasized the human element of the study, saying, "We want to make certain that people understand that we're not talking just about numbers and statistics, but about human lives and suffering."