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Executive Summary
Pages 1-12

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From page 1...
... for defining and obtaining data on the prevalence of food insecurity in the United States and methodologies that can be used across the NNMRR programs and at the state and local levels. The USDA estimates of food insecurity are based on data collected annually in the Food Security Supplement (FSS)
From page 2...
... PANEL CHARGE USDA requested the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies to convene a panel of experts to undertake a two-year study in two phases to review at this 10-year mark the concepts and methodology for measuring food insecurity and hunger and the uses of the measures. The specific tasks to be addressed in Phase 1 of the study were: · the appropriateness of a household survey as a vehicle for monitor ing on a regular basis the prevalence of food insecurity among the general population and within broad population subgroups, includ ing measuring frequency and duration; · the appropriateness of identifying hunger as a severe range of food insecurity in such a survey-based measurement method; · the appropriateness, in principle and in application, of item response theory and the Rasch model as a statistical basis for measuring food insecurity; · the appropriateness of the threshold scores that demarcate food in security categories -- particularly the categories "food insecure with hunger" and "food insecure with hunger among children" -- and the labeling and interpretation of each category; · the applicability of the current measure of the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger for assessing the effectiveness of USDA food assistance programs, in connection with the Government Performance and Results Act performance goals for the Food and Nutrition Service; and
From page 3...
... In addition, the panel was asked to address and make recommendations on: · the content of the 18 items and the set of food security scales based on them currently used by USDA to measure food insecurity; · how best to incorporate and represent information about food secu rity of both adults and children at the household level; · how best to incorporate information on food insecurity in preva lence measures; · needs and priorities for developing separate, tailored food security scales for population subgroups, for example, households versus in dividuals, all individuals versus children, and the general population versus homeless persons; and · future directions to consider for strengthening measures of food in security prevalence for monitoring, evaluation, and related research purposes throughout the national nutrition monitoring system. The Committee on National Statistics appointed a panel of 10 experts to examine the above issues.
From page 4...
... Unlike food insecurity, which is a household-level concept, hunger is an individual-level concept. The Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM)
From page 5...
... Not all elements of the consensus conceptual definition of food insecurity have been incorporated into the USDA measurement of food insecurity in the United States. It was a decision of the Food Security Measurement Project to limit the operational definition and measurement approach to only those aspects of food insecurity that can be captured in a householdlevel survey.
From page 6...
... USDA's food security scale measures the severity of food insecurity in surveyed households and classifies their food security status during the previous year. The frequency of food insecurity and the duration of spells of insecurity are not assessed directly in the HFSSM questions that are used to classify households by food security status.
From page 7...
... After reviewing the key features of selected national surveys -- the Current Population Survey, the National Health Interview Survey, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation -- the panel compared the relative merits of each, for either carrying the Food Security Supplement or conducting research to supplement the information obtained from it. The panel recommends research and testing to understand better the strengths and weaknesses of each survey in relation to the Current Population Survey, leading to the selection of a specific survey vehicle for the Food Security Supplement, or for supplementing that information for research purposes.
From page 8...
... The panel concludes that an overall national estimate of food insecurity is not appropriate as a measure for meeting the requirements of the GPRA. Even an appropriate measure of food insecurity or hunger using appropriate samples would not be a useful performance indicator of food assistance programs, because their performance is only one of many factors that result in food insecurity or hunger.
From page 9...
... Any revised or additional measures should be appropriately tested before implementing them in the Household Food Security Survey Module. Recommendation 4-2: USDA should revise the wording and ordering of the questions in the Household Food Security Survey Module.
From page 10...
... Recommendation 5-3: To implement the underlying latent variable model that results from the recommended research, USDA should de velop a new classification system that reflects the measurement error inherent in latent variable models. This can be accomplished by classify ing households probabilistically along the latent scale, as opposed to the current practice of deterministically using the observed number of affirmations.
From page 11...
... Survey Vehicles to Measure Food Insecurity and Hunger Recommendation 6-1: USDA should continue to collaborate with the National Center for Health Statistics to use the National Health and Nutri tion Examination Survey to conduct research on methods of measuring household food insecurity and individual hunger and the consequences for nutritional intake and other relevant health measures. Recommendation 6-2: USDA should carefully review the strengths and weakness of the National Health Interview Survey in relation to the Cur rent Population Survey in order to determine the best possible survey vehicle for the Food Security Supplement at a future date.


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