Household Food Security in the United States

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Household Food Security in the United States
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History of the Food Security Measurement Project
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Definitions of Food Security Before 2006
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Nutrition Security

• The provision of an environment that encourages
  and motivates society to make food choices
  consistent with short and long term good health.

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Food Security

• Assess by all people at all times to sufficient
  food for an active and healthy life. Food
  security includes at a minimum the ready
  availability of nutritionally adequate and safe
  foods, and an assured ability to acquire
  acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

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Food Insecurity

• a household had limited or uncertain availability
  of food, or limited or uncertain ability to
  acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable
  ways (i.e., without resorting to emergency food
  supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other unusual
  coping strategies).

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Hunger

• The uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack
  of food.
• Involuntary hunger that results from not being
  able to afford enough food
• The recurrent and involuntary lack of access to
  food
• May produce malnutrition over time.

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Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States
An Assessment of the Measure.(IOM 2006)

• Recommended that USDA continue to measure and
  monitor food insecurity regularly in a household
  survey
• Affirmed the appropriateness of the general
  methodology currently used to measure food
  insecurity
• Suggested several ways in which the methodology
  might be refined (contingent on confirmatory
  research). Research on these issues is currently
  underway at ERS

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Changes in Definitions IOM 2006

• Food insecuritya household-level economic and
  social condition of limited or uncertain access
  to adequate food.
• Hunger is an individual-level physiological
  condition that may result from food insecurity -
  should refer to a potential consequence of food
  insecurity that, because of prolonged,
  involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort,
  illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the
  usual uneasy sensation."
• To measure hunger in this sense would require
  collection of more detailed and extensive
  information on physiological experiences of
  individual household members than could be
  accomplished effectively in the context of the
  CPS.

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2006, New Definitions
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2006, Food Security Continuum

• High food securityHouseholds had no problems, or
  anxiety about, consistently accessing adequate
  food.
• Marginal food securityHouseholds had problems at
  times, or anxiety about, accessing adequate food,
  but the quality, variety, and quantity of their
  food intake were not substantially reduced.
• Low food securityHouseholds reduced the quality,
  variety, and desirability of their diets, but the
  quantity of food intake and normal eating
  patterns were not substantially disrupted.
• Very low food securityAt times during the year,
  eating patterns of one or more household members
  were disrupted and food intake reduced because
  the household lacked money and other resources
  for food.

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http//www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodSecurity/tren
ds.htm
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2005 Survey, VL Food Security (4.4 million
households)

• 98 percent reported having worried that their
  food would run out before they got money to buy
  more.
• 96 percent reported that the food they bought
  just did not last and they did not have money to
  get more.
• 94 percent reported that they could not afford to
  eat balanced meals.
• 96 percent reported that an adult had cut the
  size of meals or skipped meals because there was
  not enough money for food 86 percent reported
  that this had occurred in 3 or more months.
• 44 percent reported having lost weight because
  they did not have enough money for food.
• 31 percent reported that an adult did not eat for
  a whole day because there was not enough money
  for food 22 percent reported that this had
  occurred in 3 or more months.

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Food Insecurity with Hunger
2002-2004 3.9
4.3 11 2003-2005 3.8
3.9 30
4.0
3.5
2005-2007
34
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1999
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State-Level Predictors of Food Insecurity and
Hunger Among Households With Children, 2005

• Used hierarchical modeling to identify contextual
  dimensions of food insecurity
• Availability and accessibility of federal
  nutrition assistance programs
• Policies affecting wellbeing of low income
  families
• States economic and social characteristics

http//www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/CCR13/
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Important Protective Factors

• Food stamps and summer meals programs
• Tax policies that support low income families
• Job opportunities/strong labor market
• Robust relationship between median rent and
  food insecurity
• Residential stability and social capital

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Its not just poverty

• Some states have high rates of food insecurity,
  but lower rates of poor families and families
  headed by a single adult.
• Propose concept of excess food insecurity to
  determine which states may benefit from
  strengthening the food security infrastructure.

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Why did Washingtons rates improve?

• Increased participation in federal programs
• Between 2001 and 2004 there was a 59 increase in
  food stamp participation.
• In 2002 56 of eligible families received food
  stamps in 2005 68 received food stamps.
• WA state legislature increased funding for school
  lunch, breakfast and summer meals