Margaret S. Andrews

Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States: Development of a National Benchmark Measure and Prevalence Estimates

Since 1992, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has led a collaborative effort to develop a comprehensive benchmark measure of the severity and prevalence of food insecurity and hunger in the United States. Based on prior research and wide consultation, a survey instrument specifically relevant to U.S. conditions was designed and tested. Through its Current Population Survey (CPS), the U.S. Bureau of the Census has fielded this instrument each year since 1995. A measurement scale was derived from the data through fitting, testing and validating a Rasch scale. The unidimensional Rasch model corresponds to the form of the phenomenon being measured, i.e., the severity of food insufficiency due to inadequate resources as directly experienced and reported in U.S. households. A categorical measure reflecting designated ranges of severity on the scale was constructed for consistent comparison of prevalence estimates over time and across population groups. The technical basis and initial results of the new measure were reported in September 1997. For the 12 months ending April 1995, an estimated 11.9% of U.S. households (35 million persons) were food insecure. Among these, 4.1% of households (with 6.9 million adults and 4.3 million children) showed a recurring pattern of hunger due to inadequate resources for one or more of their adult and/or child members sometime during the period. The new measure has been incorporated into other federal surveys and is being used by researchers throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Household Food Security in the United States in 2010

An estimated 85.5 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2010, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.5 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.4 percent with very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. The prevalence rate of very low food security declined from 5.7 percent in 2009, while the change in food insecurity overall (from 14.7 percent in 2009) was not statistically significant. The typical food-secure household spent 27 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Fifty-nine percent of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the 2010 survey.

Food Stamp Program Participation and Food Insecurity: An Instrumental Variables Approach

The relationship between Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation and household food insecurity (FI) is investigated using data from the 1996–1997 National Food Stamp Program Survey. Endogeneity of FSP participation is accommodated with an instrumental variables approach. In contrast to other findings reported in the literature, results suggest participation in the FSP reduces the severity of FI. Sociodemographic variables play important roles in FSP participation and FI. Underreporting of FSP participation and limited observations of food-insecure households in previous studies may have also been factors. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

Frequency and Duration of Food Insecurity and Hunger in US Households

OBJECTIVE This study examines the extent to which food insecurity and hunger in US households are occasional, recurring, or frequent/chronic. Design/Variables: The federal food security scale measures the severity of food insecurity in surveyed households and classifies households as to their food security status during the previous year. The Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) collects the data elements used to calculate the food security scale. Supplementary data on the frequency of occurrence of the behaviors and experiences comprising the food security scale are also collected by the CPS-FSS, but most of this information is not included in the food security scale. This study analyzes these supplementary data along with the food security scale and its constituent items using data from the Food Security Supplement of the nationally representative CPS conducted in August 1998. RESULTS About two thirds of households classified as food insecure by the federal food security scale experience the condition as recurring, and around one fifth experience these conditions as frequent or chronic. The monthly prevalence of hunger is about 60% of the annual prevalence, and the daily prevalence is about 13% to 18% of the annual prevalence. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Nutritionists can use these findings to enhance the informative value of food insecurity and hunger statistics from national, state, and local surveys when interpreting them to policy makers and to the general public.

Rising Food Prices Take a Bite Out of Food Stamp Benefits

The Food Stamp Program is designed to provide low-income families with increased food purchasing power to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. As in most other Federal Government assistance programs, benefits are adjusted in response to rising prices—in this case, rising food prices. The current method of adjustment results in a shortfall between the maximum food stamp benefit and the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet as specified by USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan. During fiscal year (FY) 2007, the food purchasing shortfall in the caseload-weighted maximum benefit for the program grew from

SNAP Participants' Eating Patterns over the Benefit Month: A Time Use Perspective.

7 in October 2006 to

Household food security in the United States, 2008.

19 in September 2007. In FY 2008, the amount grew from almost

Household Food Security in the United States in 2011

8 in October 2007 to

Household food security in the United States, 2009.

34 in July 2008 and to

Household Food Security in the United States, 2005

38 in September 2008. In an average month, food stamp households faced shortfalls of over