Food Insecurity in the United States

Food insecurity in the United States is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited access to food. In 2016, 12.9% of all persons (41 million) in the United States lived in food-insecure households (Gunderson, 2018). The reasons for food insecurity extend well beyond poverty to also include low assets, low human capital, low physical and mental functioning, among others.
In response to the challenge of food insecurity, an array of food assistance programs have been developed and, consequently, have become an important part of the social safety net. But the role of these programs, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), has increased over the past 20 years as non-food assistance programs have declined. The four largest programs, SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the free- and reduced-price National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the free- and reduced-price School Breakfast Program (SBP), have a combined budget of almost $100 billion.
Measuring Food Insecurity in the United States is based on a set of questions from the nationally representative Food Security Supplement, which since 2001 has been distributed each December as part of the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current Population Survey. The measure consists of 18 questions for households with children and a subset of 10 of these for households without children, with each condition at least in part owing to financial constraints. Some of the conditions are as follows:

• I worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more,” (the least severe item). 
• Did you or the other adults in your household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?” 
• Were you ever hungry but did not eat because you couldn’t afford enough food?” 
• Did a child in the household ever not eat for a full day because you couldn’t afford enough food?” (The most severe item for households with children). 

Gundersen, C., & Ziliak, J. P. (2018). Food Insecurity Research in the United States: Where We Have Been and Where We Need to Go. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 40(1), 119-135. doi:https://academic.oup.com/aepp

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2017). Nutrition: Concepts and controversies (14th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
ISBN-13: 978-1-30563937-9, ISBN-10: 1-305-63937-5